A boa constrictor named Princess has won a coveted role at New York’s Metropolitan Opera after auditioning for its forthcoming production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”, the Associated Press reported.

The yellow-peach “sun-glow” boa will perform with artist Zoe Ziegfeld, who plays a snake charmer in a new 1950s Coney Island-inspired staging of the 1790 comic opera. Ziegfeld evaluated each reptile by handling it the way it would be handled on stage.

“I need to know that the animal is comfortable with people and with what we are doing,” Ziegfeld said. Princess was picked for her larger size and visual impact. A smaller brown boa named Nala will serve as her understudy.

Princess will join rehearsals on a trial basis. Ziegfeld said the trial is about the handler’s strength in managing the large snake, not about the snake’s ability.

The production shifts Mozart’s story of two soldiers testing their fiancees’ loyalty to a brightly coloured 1950s carnival. This is the third time Ziegfeld has played the snake charmer in the Met’s version of the opera.