BY KAREN BOSSICK

“Die Zauberflote,” better known to Americans as Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” will fill the screen Saturday as part of the New York Metropolitan Opera Live in HD.

Sun Valley Opera and Metropolitan Theatres are co-sponsoring the live in HD broadcast at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Big Wood 4 Cinemas in Hailey.

Doors open at 10 a.m. and Dick Brown will give a pre-opera lecture at 10:30 a.m.

The beloved opera is a sublime fairy tale. In it the Queen of the Night persuades a prince to rescue her daughter from captivity. But, as he attempts to do so, the prince learns the high ideals of the high priest’s community and seeks to join it.

The prince and the queen’s daughter undergo severe trials of initiation, vanquishing the queen with the aid of a magic flute that allows them to pass unscathed through fire and water.

And, happily, the earthly Papageno, who accompanies the prince on his quest, is rewarded with the hand of Papagena--the perfect woman for him.

The opera is told in Singspiel, a form of singing and spoken dialogue. It moves freely between earthy comedy and mysticism, between the solemn and the light-hearted.

Many scholars say the play also features Masonic imagery throughout the work, owing to the fact that the composer—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--and the librettist—Emanuel Schikaneder—were both Freemasons.

Written for a theater located just outside Vienna, it appeals to audiences from all walks of life with numerous elements of popular theater. It was Mozart’s last produced work for the stage—he died three months after “Magic Flute” premiered in 1791 at the age of 35.

The MET HD will have a break following this production, said Mary Jo Helmeke, who heads up Sun Valley Opera. The next screening will be in November.