Bravo!
William Szep | Pittsburgh, Pa USA | 03/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this DVD for just a few bucks, not expecting much. I am fairly new to opera and I guess the names on this DVD are not big enough to command a big price?
This is a wonderful outdoor performance with loads of special effects in Europe's largest outdoor theater!
Well worth the money!"
Magic Flute among Roman ruins
Toni Bernhard | Davis, CA United States | 06/22/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This production was filmed in a Roman quarry at the Opera Festival St. Margarethen in Austria. It is quite a sight to watch performers romping around in the ruins, sometimes scaling (or, in the case of Papagena, jumping from) rocks that are several stories high. I gasped a couple of times. The production was made with children in mind and so is edited down to 90 minutes. It's not for purists, but the singing is spirited and it's staged with spectacular special effects, starting right out with a huge fire-breathing dragon. I loved it and think children would be enchanted.
Two cautions though: There are no subtitles, and the DVD case says "Interviews, Making of, Synopsis in 6 languages," but I could find none of these."