The decision to do The Magic Flute is, in itself, an aesthetic deal with the devil. In exchange for some of the most sublime music ever written for the operatic stage, you get a convoluted, stodgy white elephant of a plot. Written in an allegorical ether world, the opera, much like A Midsummer Night's Dream , cries out for rapid-fire pacing and irreverent, even reckless, staging. Guy chased by serpent.
Serpent turns into girl group.
Girl group takes boy to queen, who begs boy to save daughter from evil wizard. Boy and bird-catcher sidekick confront wizard, who turns out not to be so bad after all. Daughter and boy fall in love, undergo series of vague ritual trials in order to join wizard's country club. Wizard spouts much Freemason propaganda. Oddly enough, it may be this very scattershot approach to plot construction that allowed Mozart to flex his musical muscles.