More of an artful condensation than an adaptation, Mary Zimmerman's slimmed-down version of Mozart's famous opera 'The Magic Flute' becomes a music-hall comedy that's accessible for all.

The latest production at Berkeley Rep is a new adaptation from the classical canon by director Mary Zimmerman, whose Berkeley productions date back 38 years and include Metamorphoses, which came through Berkeley Rep in 1999 on its way to a Broadway run in 2001-2. (It was revived and brought back to Berkeley Rep in a stunning 2019 production as well.)

Zimmerman is a fan of reviving and reimagining old texts, and this may be one of her most ambitious efforts to date — taking, as it does, one of Mozart's most celebrated pieces of music for the stage, which typically clocks in at over three hours, and crystalizing it into something briefer but no less grand.

As Zimmerman says in an interview, "I want the audience to feel like they're at a private viewing," saying she was inspired by the small, private theaters that you find in old palaces and chateaux in Europe, which may only seat two dozen people but where there was a fully decked out proscenium, and full-scale productions would take place.

"This is such a rare, precious experience, to be up close to this music," Zimmerman says. "It just doesn't happen. To get a chance to do that in a small space is just really thrilling to me."

For those unfamiliar with Mozart's opera, you shouldn't worry, and The Matchbox Magic Flute is in many ways a great, accessible introduction to it — even for kids. Sung in English and abridged — there have been abridged productions of the opera performed elsewhere in recent years, but not in translation or in this musical-hall style — this Magic Flute becomes something, perhaps, closer to how audiences of the 1790s might have experienced it, especially if they were fans of Singspiele, a popular form of German musical drama at the time that combined spoken parts with arias, which is now just considered a genre of oprea.

It's big on comedy and broad performances, and rather than showcasing the stellar, otherworldly singing abilities of opera stars, it is sung by highly talented, classically trained singers who perhaps don't have quite that power behind their voices of grand divas, but can nonetheless hit all the notes.

The story is a fairy tale, centering on a prince named Tamino (Billy Rude) who gets lost in the woods, attacked by a dragon, saved by three mystical woodland ladies (Lauren Molina, Monica West, and Tina Munoz Pandya) who serve as comic relief, and befriended by a bird named Papageno (Shawn Pfautsch). With the aid of a magic flute, and a magic bell, Tamino and Papageno head off to rescue a princess, Pamina (Marlene Fernandez), the daughter of the Queen of the Night (Emily Rohm), from a king, Sarastro (Fernando Watts), who has hidden her away. And through the course of the story, we learn that the Queen of the Night isn't all good, and Sarastro isn't all bad, and Tamino and Pamina are put to several tests of strength and will before they can live happily ever after.

At just two hours, including an intermission, the Matchbox Magic Flute feels breezy and gets to hit on most of Mozart's brilliant music without having much time to linger or slow down, as typical operas do. And Zimmerman succeeds in bringing the comedy at every turn while still staying true to the beauty of the music. The three ladies are all marvelous performers who help to usher the story along; Rohm does an astounding job with the Queen of the Nights very famous, very difficult aria; Fernandez and Rude are both fantastic protagonists with solid singing chops; and as Papageno, Pfautsch provides ample physical comedy, and does more talk-singing than singing.

The tiny, mostly female orchestra, decked in 18th century robes and fezzes, also deserves high praise, and even makes a couple of appearances on stage. And the old-timey jewelbox set design by Todd Rosenthal, with its faux box seats and painted trees that slide in and out, is a triumph of its own.

This Matchbox Magic Flute, while possibly disappointing to the Philistines and Mozart purists among you, is a hands-down delight and crowd-pleaser for the rest of us, and could just make Mozart fans out of the uninitiated. Bravos and bravas all around!

'The Magic Flute' is playing through December 8. Find tickets here.