Theatre / SuperFlute

''It's-a me, Papageno!"

It's The Magic Flute... WITH NINTENDO CHARACTERS!

That's the concept for the Pacific Opera Project's reimagined production of Mozart's famous opera. SuperFlute (or Super Magic Flute) retells the story of Tamino, Pamina, and Papageno in a completely new setting: the 8-bit land of the Mushroom Kingdom, where characters are portrayed by classic video game icons (Tamino is Link, Pamina is Zelda, Papageno is Mario, and so on).

Produced by the Los Angeles opera company Pacific Opera Project (AKA "POP"), this modern retelling contains a new book and lyrics written by Josh Shaw and E. Scott Levin. It was performed at the El Portal Theater in 2019. The following year, the show was livestreamed in its entirety on POP's official YouTube account; it can be viewed here.

Bear in mind that this is still a pretty faithful production of The Magic Flute and not a parody of it, though it does spoof several opera and video game tropes. Also, while it was still advertised as The Magic Flute during its run, we will be referring to it here by its official nickname, "SuperFlute", to differentiate it from the original work.

In addition to the tropes pertaining to the original opera, SuperFlute contains examples of the following:

• Adaptational Badass: In the original libretto, Papageno and Monostatos are terrified the first time they meet each other, and they cowardly try to shoo the other away. Here, their Nintendo counterparts, Mario and Wario, treat each other like rivals rather than terrors, and immediately get into a fireball fight.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Sarastro is usually portrayed as a stoic, stonefaced authority figure. Sarastro Kong, on the other hand, is a comical Pungeon Master.
• Adaptational Context Change: Papageno's little pan flute ditty has been recontextualized as the sound the coins make when he collects them. It actually fits quite well.
• Adaptational Job Change: Papageno is a bird catcher in the original opera; since he's Mario here, he has been changed to a "coin collector".
• Adaptational Villainy: The Queen of the Night, the story's Big Bad, is portrayed here by Urbosa, who was a heroic character in the Zelda games.
• Adapted Out: The Speaker does not appear in this production.
• Anachronism Stew: The story takes place in 1985 during the NES's heyday, yet it features characters who debuted much later in Nintendo's history, like Wario, Toadette, Diddy Kong, and even Urbosa (whose game wasn't released until 30 years later).
• And You Were There: The teenagers and mother who appear during the overture are played by the same actors who play Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, and Urbosa. Even their actions foreshadow their roles: one teen (Mario) pops Super Mario Bros. into the NES, the one in green pajamas (Link) plays The Legend of Zelda, the taller teen eating a banana (DK) interrupts them to play Donkey Kong, and the mom (Urbosa) steps in to shut the whole thing down^note Note that she specifically turns off Donkey Kong; Urbosa/The Queen wants Sarastro Kong dead.
• Big "NO!": Papageno lets one out when Tamino hands him a lit Bob-omb, costing them both a life.
• Boss Battle: The story begins with Tamino/Link fending off against Bowser on the classic lava bridge. The scene is a pretty spot-on recreation of the Bowser fight from the NES game.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Tons of instances in this production, from Papageno referencing copyright issues (regarding the name "Mario") to the entire cast addressing the audience to sing about the intermission.
• The Cameo:
  • Bowser fights Tamino at the beginning, taking the role of the serpent from the original version.
  • Sarastro Kong's court consists entirely of classic NES characters, including Pit, Mega Man, the Duck and Dog, Karate Champ, Bill Rizer, and even a gangster from Hogan's Alley.
• Catchphrase: Wario retains his classic "I'm-a gonna win!" as Monostatos, and incorporates it into most of his songs.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Bob-ombs. The first time we see one, it blows up the heroes and gets them a game over. They later use one to defeat Monastatos during the Final Battle.
• Composite Character: As previously mentioned, every character from The Magic Flute is combined with a famous Nintendo character in this production.
  • Tamino is Link (and is now named "Tamino Linkman") while Pamina is Princess Zelda.
  • Papageno and Papagena are Mario and Princess Peach.
  • The Queen of the Night is Urbosa, and her ladies are now Gerudo warriors. Her green skin and villainous role are also reminiscent of Ganondorf.
  • Monostatos is Wario.
  • Sarastro Kong is the original arcade Donkey Kong with the appearance of modern DK (in the Mario continuity, both Kongs are separate characters, the latter being the former's grandson).
  • The Three Boys are Toad, Toadette, and Toadsworth.
• Cross-Cast Role: Toad and Toadsworth are played by female performers.
• Fish out of Water: Tamino/Link gets pretty confused when he first steps into the Mushroom Kingdom, and wonders if there are any levers or Hyrulian monsters around.
• Framing Device: The prologue establishes that the story takes place within the NES of three teenage boys living in 1980's Los Angeles. Things kick off when their mother storms in to unplug the system... only for it to magically turn itself back on.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: All over the place.
  • Papageno/Mario has an affinity for mushroom puns.
    Papageno: I have-a mushroom friends, they're a-real fun guys! (cue Losing Horns)
  • Sarastro Kong drops several banana puns, sometimes back-to-back.
    Sarastro Kong: You will be led through a bunch of trials. Things may go bananas once you begin. Keep your eyes peeled for danger. Never split from your partner.
    Tamino: (annoyed) Okay, okay, thank you...
    Sarastro Kong: They're banana jokes.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The water trial has Tamino and Pamina doing swimming motions across the stage in front of an ocean backdrop. Once they reach the end, they exclaim, "We've made it through the water threat, and we are barely even wet!"
• Magical Flutist: Tamino as usual, but the titular flute has now been reimagined as Link's ocarina.
• Musicalus Interruptus: As Diddy Kong and DK Junior sing about the upcoming trials, their song is cut short by Tamino and Papageno getting blown up by a Bomb-omb (and subsequently losing a life).
• Mythology Gag: Many staples from classic Nintendo games make their way into the show.
  • During the overture, the character select screen from Super Mario Bros. 2 appears, depicting sprites of the main cast along with their Magic Flute names.
  • The opening serpent fight is now a Boss Battle against Bowser atop of his lava bridge.
  • Mario is still unable to "walk left" (just like in his NES game), and is thoroughly surprised when Link is able to without hesitation.
  • Pamina/Zelda's portrait resembles her sprite from A Link to the Past.
  • When Link tires of hearing Diddy and DK Junior explain the trials, he simply says "A" (as in the "A button") to skip over their dialogue.
  • Link and Mario get a game over when the former accidentally tampers with a Bob-omb. The stage goes black, the classic Mario death jingle plays, and a classic "Continue" screen pops up before the scene resets.
  • The trials that Tamino has to overcome are the classic Mario levels, like Bowser's Castle, the underground, and the ocean.
  • The old woman tells Papageno that her boyfriend wears a cap and overalls; he mistakenly thinks that she's referring to his brother, Luigi.
  • After indulging in a bowl of mushroom soup, Papageno exclaims, "I feel amazing, like I could fly even without a raccoon suit!"
  • Diddy Kong tells Papageno that “our princess is in another castle”, the “princess” being Pamina in this case.
  • The magic flute itself is now the Ocarina of Time, while Papageno's magic bells have been reinvented as a single Super Star.
  • When Sarastro Kong’s forces ambush the Queen and her ladies, the characters declare that “It’s SMASH time!”
• Related in the Adaptation: The show portrays Urbosa and Princess Zelda as the Queen of the Night and Pamina, who are mother and daughter (Urbosa was just Zelda's mentor in the games). Oh, and Donkey Kong is her dad.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Link fights Bowser, Mario's enemy, in the first act. Justified, of course, since Link is Tamino and Bowser represents the serpent.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Tamino first meets Papageno, he asks, "Where are we? I'm definitely not in Hyrule anymore".
  • Sarastro Kong refers to his kingdom as the "Banana Republic".
  • When Kong reveals his true relation to Pamina, he tells her (in his very deep voice), "I am your father."
• The Stoner: Papageno, apparently.
  Papageno: We could sit and play games all day long, and when we're bored, we'll hit the booong! (a nearby Warp Pipe starts spewing smoke)
• Tradesnark™: The captions for the livestreamed performance have this little gag for Sarastro Kong.
  Sarastro Kong: Tamino, step forward. You've reached the last part. I'll Dole® out this warning: don't break her heart!
• Writing Around Trademarks: Played for Laughs. Pagageno is obviously Mario, but he actively avoids being called that to spare himself the wrath of the "copyright lawyers".
  Tamino: Why didn't just say you just say your name was Mari-
  Papageno: Nonononononono, we can't-a say that for the next two hours.

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"We thank you for coming, we hope you had fun!"

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