Despite the handicaps of a pair of cloth ears, never having been to an opera and an intimidating image in my mind of an exclusive gathering of hi-so grandees, I settled into my seat in the pine and marble interior of Thailand Cultural Centre's main hall looking forward to whatever the evening held in store. With a mix of Thais and farangs, old and young, there was a relaxed and eagerly expectant atmosphere and little of the stuffiness of a hi-so gathering.

Curtain rising and orchestra struck up by 20-year-old prodigy Trisdee na Patalung in his Bangkok conducting debut, what greeted our eyes were the abandoned playthings of a giant's nursery - and that was just a taste of what was to come. The red, green, yellow and blue abstract blocks of staircases and dais can only be described as Lego. Lego writ large, Lego on a gargantuan scale.

Amid the full sonic strength of the orchestra and the quavering tenor of the hero Prince Tamino (Harold Gray Meers) in the first number, entered a Chinese dragon made from old aluminium tubing, accessorised with trash and brought to life by a troupe of acrobats. What was going on here? Divine sounds accompanying something that looked like an episode of the Tellytubbies - this wasn't what I'd been led to expect from "high opera".

In fact, "The Magic Flute" doesn't follow the conventions of "high opera" because it was written as a "Singspiel", a mixture of music and spoken word, with simpler folk-like songs that adorn a story played for laughs. The singing in German was subtitled in Thai and English on two large screens on either side of the stage and the musical action was interspersed with a dialogue in English and some Thai to keep the story rattling along.

The action followed the exploits of the hero, Prince Tamino, charged by the Queen of the Night with rescuing the beautiful Princess Pamina - her daughter - from the evil clutches of the mysterious and powerful Sarastro. The brave prince was accompanied by his buffoonish foil Papageno played by Saran Suebsantiwongse.

The gap between captivating song and camp action fast became a chasm with the entrance of Tamino's saviours - the three ladies. All in knee-length stiletto boots, skin-tight pants and shoulder-pads, they looked like refugees from an '80s music video. And it wasn't long before a tuk tuk joined the action, ferrying characters across the stage. The tone was set for what was to follow as Tamino's quest unfolded in a plot with about as much sophistication as an episode of Scooby Doo.

Meanwhile, Papageno met up with princess Pamina, a part sung by Nancy Yuen in such a way that even this cloth-eared audience member could tell she was stealing the show. In the best comic tradition of the musical, she reminded Papageno that they must sing a duet because, "this is opera, you know".

Writing in the programme notes, Somtow Sucharitkul, Bangkok Opera's founder, director and leading light, explained the magic that was at work in this odd mixture of slapstick action set to cosmic music. "The mundane becomes sublime, and this is something music always seems to say to us. Mozart has achieved this cosmic edifice that elucidates the human condition, but he has built [it] on top of a plot which could just as easily be an episode of a 1950's sitcom."

After the interval, having supped refreshments at the reasonably priced restaurant adjacent to the auditorium, the audience was treated to the black, glittering menace of Sandra Partridge in her role as Queen of the Night. Like the devil, she got all the best tunes, singing out her proud vengeance in a cascade of crisp, clear notes.

Action involving sacred rites, ordeals and "the brotherhood" is the reason "The Magic Flute" is sometimes referred to as "The Masonic Opera". A Mason himself, Mozart was schooled in Masonic beliefs and practice emphasising the light of brotherhood - a reason used to pierce the dark medieval mindset of superstition and king craft.

The final scene saw the Queen of the Night and her new henchman Monostatos caught out in their plot to wrest away Pamina and banished by the brotherhood's light of reason to the realm of eternal darkness - "the rays of the sun expel the night".

It's easy to see why Bangkok Opera opted to put "The Magic Flute" onstage again after their earlier success with it in 2003. With its tale of garbage magically transfigured to become beautiful, of sublime music imbuing the mundane with cosmic significance, it seems peculiarly appropriate to Bangkok where glittering palaces rise from dirty streets and even gossip comes out in a si ng-song manner.

Boasting "South East Asia's first full opera season", Bangkok Operas' up-and-coming productions include "Cosi Fan Tutti" in June and "Ayodhya", a world premiere for Somtow's operatic interpretation of the Ramayana, later in the year.

For information, visit www.bangkokopera.com or call (02) 661 4688-9.

Rod Borrowman

Special to The Nation