''Magic Flute Diaries'' is a 2008

direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...

Canadian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Kevin Sullivan, loosely inspired by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's classic opera ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

''. It stars

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...

Warren Christie Hans Warren Christie (born 4 November 1975) is a Canadian television and film actor known for his roles as Ray Cataldo on the ABC drama '' October Road'' and as Aidan "Greggy" Stiviletto on the ABC series '' Happy Town''. More recently, Chri ...

and Mireille Asselin. ''Magic Flute Diaries'' won the award for Best Family Film in the 2008 Staten Island Film Festival.

Synopsis

Tom (

), a young classical singer, reluctantly accepts the lead role in a production of ''The Magic Flute'' during Mozart's 250th birthday celebration in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

at the urging of his girlfriend Sandy (Kelly Campbell). As rehearsals unfold, Tom is captivated by the magical power of Mozart's final opera. He is completely overcome with amazement at the musical genius that surrounds him. In an effort to visualize Mozart's fantasy, Tom imagines himself in the opera's story and drifts in and out of reality as if in a dream. Gradually he becomes completely enraptured by the intoxicating musical atmosphere swirling around him. Tom's rapture is heightened further when he meets his mysterious co-star, Masha (Mireille Asselin), an unknown Russian soprano of astonishing talent. This extraordinary young singer is kept isolated from both the company and the press by her manager, Professor Nagel (

). Tom becomes infatuated with Masha causing his relationship with Sandy to fall apart. Tom finds himself seduced as much by Mozart's music as by his bewitching co-star. Tom's concern for the girl, and his obsession to find out more about her mysterious past, becomes a quest that parallels the operatic fable actually being played out onstage. Tom's strong feelings for Masha have left him unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Like his character in the opera, Tom wonders if he is being tested for a higher purpose but he knows he must play out his role in Masha's story until the final curtain.

Production

Origin

The concept for a film inspired by Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' emerged from a number of sources. Director, writer and producer of the film, Kevin Sullivan, became interested in the city of Salzburg after his daughter travelled there with her school orchestra to attend Mozart's 250th birthday celebrations. Sullivan was also inspired by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

’s stage musical, '' The Woman in White'', which used

three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...

backdrops in its London production. Though Sullivan claims not to be an opera buff, he had always had a love for Mozart's ''The Magic Flute''.Taylor, Kate
"Mozart, by way of Sin City"
''The Globe & Mail'', 4 July 2006.

Filming

Due to the impossibility (budget and time constraints) of filming on-location in Salzburg, Sullivan and a team travelled to Austria, Germany and Hungary, taking digital photographs of various churches, streetscapes, grand interiors and scenic backdrops.Tilley, Steve. "The Land of Movie Magic", ''The Toronto Sun'', 23 June 2006. Filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, shooting was completed in front of a green screen, allowing computer animators to remove the background and splice in digital photographs and images in postproduction.Terauds, John, "There’s Magic in the air", ''The Toronto Star'', 24 June 2006. Thom Best served as DOP, with special effects by Tony Willis.Davidson, Sean, "Sullivan feels the Magic", ''Playback'', 10 July 2006. Advanced mixers with live links to the live cameras allowed for the technicians to adjust background images in real time as the cameras rolled, giving a rough idea of what the finished product would look like.

Opera Atelier

The Toronto opera company,

Opera Atelier Opera Atelier is an opera company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1985. The company mounts baroque operas and ballet, ballets from the 17th and 18th centuries that are presented in venues located in Toronto's Theatre Distric ...

, partnered with Sullivan Entertainment for the production, providing costumes, crew and cast. Opera Atelier co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Zingg were choreographers for dance numbers in the film. Pynkoski also played the role of the opera director in the film.

Cast

as Dr. Richard Nagel *

as Tom / Tamino * Mireille Asselin as Masha / Pamina * Kelly Campbell as Sandra / Papagena * Olivier Laquerre as Papageno * Curtis Sullivan as Sarastro * Erin Windle as The Queen of the Night *

Daniel Kash Daniel Joshua Kash (born April 25, 1959) is a Canadian actor and film director. He is known for his appearances in films such as '' Aliens'', '' The Hunt for the BTK Killer'', and ''The Path to 9/11'', and in television series such as ''Law & Ord ...

as Monostatos *

Laura de Carteret Laura de Carteret is a Canadian actress from St. Catharines, Ontario. She is most noted for her recurring role as Janet in the television series ''Seed'', for which she was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Se ...

as Ziggy

References

External links

* * 2008 films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films Films based on The Magic Flute Films directed by Kevin Sullivan 2008 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films {{drama-film-stub