Children belong to the theater and the theater belongs to children! And they are destined for an epic tale full of magic, feathers and adventure about a queen whose only daughter has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Monostatos, and therefore entrusts Prince Tamino to free Princess Pamina with the help of the birder Papageno.
Where did Papagena go…? The children have to help us find that out. In an effort to make the opera genre accessible to children's audiences, a number of adaptations of great operas into more intimate works with a shorter time span have been created in the last fifty years. It is understandable that the creators of these adaptations also chose the Magic Flute, which is in its essence a fairy tale, moreover filled with charming Mozart music. One of these children's versions was created under the name Papageno plays the magic flute for the theater in Mannheim in 1980. Its author is the contemporary German composer, director and playwright Eberhard Streul. Accompanied by the cheerful bird Papageno, the children go on an adventurous journey through the magical forest, where they undergo a series of tests with their fairy-tale friends... and finally find Papagena for Papageno.
