"Together" is the magic word

Who doesn’t have it—that great, deep-seated heart’s desire! Whether you wear it on your sleeve, hoping thereby bringing about its swift fulfillment, or whether you hide it deep within your heart, to protect it from the perhaps unsympathetic judgment of the general public, it does not change the fact that one has, at the very least, a truly cherished aspiration. Admittedly, the possibility of realizing this cause is not infrequently lost on that horizon where reality, personal commitment, and utopia merge into a collective situation that is difficult to grasp. Not so in fairy tales. Nor is this the case at the Vienna State Opera, when the perhaps most popular figures of musical theater—those from Mozart’s *The Magic Flute*, from Papageno to Pamina— step outside the familiar framework of the story and set off on a completely new, thrilling secret mission. And they do so in the most diverse locations, in the most varied spaces of the venerable, magnificent building on the Ring.

Anyone who has worked with children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren in the State Opera’s musical theater projects probably already has a pretty good idea of what we’re talking about here: Another promising flower of that children’s opera concept, which, at every single performance, instantly captivates everyone in the audience and, through the very act of participation alone,trigger pure enthusiasm.

Of course, we’re talking about the much-praised “Wandering Opera.” Initiated, developed, and directed by Nina Blum based on the successful “Fairy Tale Summer” concept, following *Abduction to the Enchanted Realm* and *The Cursed Ghost Ship*, *Secret Mission: The Magic Flute* will run starting October 10. The successful concept, in which young visitors explore, together with the performers and the musicians, the explore the individual fairy-tale-like locations of the plot together, and in the process even tackle an exciting taskto help solve the mystery—has been retained this time as well (see interview). The tried-and-true team led by Nina Blum, composer Gerald Resch, and writer Margit Mezgolich has once again—in other words, once again transformed the State Opera—in other words, magical instruments, and above all the wonder that arises from the diversity of a community, lead to a happy ending in which everyone’s heart’s desires come true.