Zie Magic Flute!
The performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute we saw last night in Milwaukee was a great introduction to opera for me. The presenters mostly stuck to the original story line (which Steven and I had learned about in advance to know what was going on) but translated a lot of it in to English, using colloquialisms and modern language. A few of the songs were still sung entirely in German, and the program had translations (as well as a helpful synopsis and breakdown of the acts by songs, which I used to follow along).
I was expecting to recognize some of the music, and I did! But not from where I was expecting – I’d heard it before from Trans-Siberian Orchestra! One of my favorite songs of theirs, “Queen of Winter Night” is a rework of The Magic Flute, particularly “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen.” (If you listen to :28 and :46 here and here you can hear it.)
The singers/dancers/musicians (yes, some did all three!) were amazing. I was expecting the production to be cheesy based on the program cover, but it wasn’t (thankfully)! It was playful and funny and the cast was FANTASTIC. They were great singers but the Queen of the Night really outshone everyone.
The opera was performed in the Tripoli Shrine Center, a nationally registered historic place whose design is based off of the Taj Mahal and is home to the Milwaukee Shriners… which is interesting for this play, because The Shriners are Master Masons and there is a lot of Masonic symbolism in the original version of this opera. And… that is as much as I will pretend to know about the meaning of the opera, from what Steven and I learned before going.
The opera was performed in the space under the dome, and had action going on on the main level and balcony. It was an intimate performance – we were only a few feet behind the musicians and the performers went by us countless times! Their use of the space was clever and created the scenes without any backdrops.
Photo from here, showing the Queen of the Night
Their costumes were neat, but what really amused me was their use of props. When Prince Tamino is shown a “portrait” of Pamina they used a view-master! And there was a pause in the performance of that song for the First Lady to hand Tamino a new slide reel. That cracked me up. They used hand puppets for a scene where Tamino is traveling in the forest and has to use his magic flute to tame the animals (that is what I interpreted was going on), and they had an impressive huge (paper-mache?) dragon for the end scene.
One of the singers sometimes did her scenes on roller skates, zipping around the audience and musicians, which impressed me. She could sing, dance and skate at the same time. Like I said, it was extremely playful and we laughed a lot! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
And it was fun to dress up! We didn’t need to AT ALL, but wanted to.
I rented my dress, earrings and clutch from Rent the Runway, and got my hair done at a local favorite salon, which was a treat and fun for date night!
I did my own makeup, and remembered, less than an hour before it was time to go, that I threw out most of my makeup when we moved to the rental house at the end of 2015. Oops. Quick CVS trip to get lipstick!
We ate at the Palomino Bar in the Bay View area before the show. This is one of my go to places with vegan options in Milwaukee. We all ordered dessert to enjoy after the show and I dug in to mine as soon as we got home (well, after finishing my leftovers)! I needed sustenance to stay up for a few more hours playing games!
And, as I am up writing this, I’ve gotten three and a half hours of sleep. Totally worth it for a fun night! (And I totally see a nap in my future!)
Themocracy
I love that dress!!! Yay sequins!! My favorite.
Thanks! It was fun to wear something so glam!
What a fun date night! You looked absolutely stunning!
Thank you!
Wow – you look amazing! How fun to dress up like that!! The entire evening sounds like it was a blast…love that you continued it well after the opera, with games and cake – yum!
Thanks! It was fun! And staying up late after was too! (even though I paid for it, ha!)
You looked gorgeous, Kim! And so glad you enjoyed yourself at the opera, it sounds like it was a really cool production!
Thank you! 🙂 It really was! Makes me curious if I would like the more traditional opera!
Wow, what a fun evening! The opera sounds really, really cool! I haven’t been to that many, but I like when they are more playful. My friend in Seattle told me that the Seattle opera is working really hard to engage younger adults and get them into shows. I wonder if this production had that goal in mind or if the company always does fun, inventive performances like that. (The translation into English especially!)
I like that you all dressed up even though you didn’t have to! I always feel so awkward when I do that, but it looked like so much fun. Was that your first time using Rent the Runway?
I wonder how the Seattle opera is trying to engage younger adults – if it’s to make it more playful like this! I think the company always does this kind of thing – I saw another one of their operas was about Pac Man! Ha!
It was my first time using Rent the Runway. A few people seemed surprised I would spend $$ on a dress I wasn’t buying but come on… when would I wear that again?! It was a treat for me!
This sounds like SUCH a fun night! The opera sounds like such a unique interpretation of Mozart’s work (I’ve never seen it, but I”m guessing the original doesn’t include a Viewmaster 😉 Hahaha). That cake also looks delicious *heart-eyed emoji*