With its unforgettable melodies, comic adventures, and themes of truth, love, and transformation, Mozart’s The Magic Flute has stood as one of opera’s most brilliant imaginative experiences for centuries. With this production, director/choreographer Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe have delightfully reimagined the story for modern audiences, transferring the action to a whimsical 19th-century hotel, where a cigar-smoking Queen of the Night leads an underground suffragette movement and chef Sarastro’s kitchen staff guards culinary secrets like sacred Masonic rites. Expect black-and-white storybook sets, puppetry, and laugh-out-loud visual gags—all brought to life by Mozart’s luminous score, performed with virtuosity by the HGO Chorus and Orchestra and a powerhouse cast. Tenor Paul Appleby stars as sleepwalking hotel guest Tamino opposite soprano Janai Brugger as Pamina, with baritone Joshua Hopkins as Papageno, soprano Aigul Khismatullina in her HGO debut as the Queen of the Night, and bass Grigory Shkarupa as Sarastro. David Chan, artistic director of the Taipei Music Academy and Festival and principal conductor of the Apollo Orchestra, conducts in his company debut.