Kenneth Branagh-Helmed THE MAGIC FLUTE Screens Tonight at BIG Cinemas Manhattan Theater

"THE MAGIC FLUTE", a film directed by Kenneth Branagh, featuring music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, will screen tonight, June 9, 2013. Sung in English. Running time - 134 minutes. The screening will take place at BIG Cinemas Manhattan Theater, 239 East 59th Street.

Mozart's classic opera The Magic Flute is breathtakingly transformed in a spectacular new film version conceived and directed by Kenneth Branagh, with a newly-adapted libretto by Stephen Fry.

With musical director James Conlon conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the film showcases opera stars René Pape, Tom Randle, Lyubov Petrova, Silvia Moi Joseph Kaiser and Amy Carson in a romantic adventure story of humanity and fellowship, weaving drama with comedy.

CREATIVE TEAM: Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Director: Kenneth Branagh; Libretto adapted by: Stephen Fry; Music Arranged and Conducted by: James Conlon with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Production: A French-English co-production between Idéale Audience and The Peter Moores Foundation, produced by Pierre-Olivier Bardet and Simon Moseley.

CAST: Queen of the Night: Lyubov Petrova; Sarastro: René Pape; Monostatos: Tom Randle; Tamino: Joseph Kaiser; Pamina: Amy Carson; Papageno: Ben Davis; First Lady: Teuta Koco; Second Lady: Louise Callinan; Third Lady: Kim-Marie Woodhouse; Papagena (young): Silvia Moi; Papagena (older): Liz Smith.

Synopsis: On the eve of the first global war a magical drama unfolds as Tamino sets forth on a perilous journey in pursuit of love, light and peace in a world afflicted by darkness, death and destruction. An eerie quiet descends over a landscape still untouched by conflict as Tamino waits anxiously with his fellow recruits for the command to go into battle. In the ensuing chaos he is transported to a twilight world caught between dream and nightmare where he is rescued from certain death by a trio of field nurses. When Papageno (keeper of the canaries employed to detect the presence of gas in the trenches) stumbles onto the scene and attempts to take credit for saving Tamino, the Sisters dispatch the two soldiers on a deadly mission. The duo must rescue Pamina, the lovely daughter of the Queen of the Night, who has been kidnapped by the dark lord, Sarastro. What follows is a spectacular musical adventure in which the destiny of a pair of young lovers may help determine the fate of nations and the lives of millions.

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