I Can't Repent Fast Enough

Magic Flute

I can’t repent fast enough. Refer to my blog July 17th “Barber Goes to Barber of Seville” where I said it would be two years before I attended another opera. I attended USU’s production of “The Magic Flute” because I love Mozart’;s music and the price was right. At the ticket booth the gal stated, $8.00. I wondered if my back pack fooled her into thinking I was a re-entry student. “This isn’t for a student,” I reiterated. She said nothing and took my 8.00 bucks. I pondered, Did she think I was faculty?

This is the second time I’ve seen the Magic Flute and my fourth opera. So I was familiar with the music and enjoyed the solos and ensembles. No assigned seats, I arrived early to sit in the middle of the middle, which is probably a $100.00 seat at Eccles Theater. I had plenty of leg room and a comfortable seat. There wasn’t a very big crowd probably due to poor publicity and all day bad weather.. I hadn’t any seen articles in the paper.

I took time to ready my ticket, which said “Senior.” I guess my backpack and wrinkles didn’t fool the ticket gal one bit. Maybe that’s why I got the discounted price.

I read the five paragraph explanation of the opera, It didn’t really make any sense, shy on plot I thought. Later, The lyric subtitles proved my point. The program stated: “ The power of Mozart’s music ensures that there is no sense of incongruity.” Yes, I fully agree with whatever that means. I got the part that Tamino and Pamina were in love. Ok maybe the plot was mystical, maybe it was fantasy the wicked queen mother was trying to stop her daughter from her true love. Why would a mother do this? Ok, so I’m a realist, I never liked Alice in Wonderland either.

I found the names very confusing. Tamino, Pamina , young romantic leads who had fantastic voices ( excellante) and Papageno and Papagena, the comic relief. Then there was Isis and Osiris which I can’t even pronounce.

True to operatic form, the Magic Flute lasted two hours but was split more evenly between first and second act. Did I get sleepy, No, it was on the cold side with air conditioning flowing and snow gently falling outside. I thought the cast did an excellent job and I liked the scenery and the biggness of the stage.

One suggestion start the opera at 7:00 instead of 7:30 pm. We didn’t get out until 9:45 which gave me just enough time to drive home before it was bedtime. Then turn around and drive back to Logan for work the next day. The disadvantage of attending a week night performance. Thank you for listening.