The Magic Flute, which ends with the dawning of an ill-defined age of sunshine and loveliness, opens in Obama-week. How convenient for a reviewer needing an angle. And how wonderful to see Nicholas Hytner’s beautiful, lucid and gloriously populist production back at the Coliseum.

The ENO claimed 2007’s revival would be the last but it would be foolish to ditch a winning production of a work they should rightfully own. The piece belongs in translation, and Jeremy Sams’s is excellent and funny. Hytner’s production is alive to the allegory in Tamino’s magical quest to gain Pamina: the set represents logical order in a deceitful age.

Strong images abound: the Three Ladies with Marge Simpson coiffures, a huge inverted moon. Conductor Erik Neilsen doesn’t handle Mozart with kid gloves: brisk tempi and big dynamic contrasts. Emily Hindrichs’ Queen of the Night roughens her coloratura to pour more malice into her arias.

Roderick Williams’s northern Papageno is charming; Robert Murray is a staunch Tamino. Sarah-Jane Davies as Pamina can’t act but sings with a lovely, melancholy intelligence. Best is Robert Lloyd’s Sarastro, who unleashes an awesome, inspiring voice.
In rep until 26 Feb, www.eno.org.