‘The Magic Flute’ audience fills MAC with laughter

As the lights dimmed, excited chatter made way for attentive silence in the performance hall of the Musical Arts Center for the premiere of IU’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote,” or,“The Magic Flute.” 

Laughter was the evening’s theme with the comical Papageno and his bird net, which he wanted to use for more than catching birds. Colorful bird puppets brightened the stage.

In the second act, graduate student Shannon Love, who studies vocal performance, evoked thundering applause with her performance of the Queen of the Night’s aria.

Sophomore Sarah Mattingly and her friend Kailee Holly, a Western Michigan University student, said Love’s vocal performance was amazing. 

“I don’t even know opera that well, and I could recognize it,” Mattingly said. “I loved it.“

During intermission, Mehmet Dalkilic, associate professor of informatics, talked to his students about the history and plot of the opera. Dalkilic took half of his Honors Introduction to Informatics class to the premiere and said he will take the other half Friday. He paid for their tickets himself.

“College is a combination of classroom and extracurricular activities, and we have one of the best music schools in the nation,” Dalkilic said. “Everyone should go to an opera, and this is one of the best operas that’s ever been made. I think it’s my duty as a professor to expose them to everything I can.”

Laughter and applause continued for the rest of the opera, and a standing ovation greeted the cast at the final curtain call. 

After the opera, many in the audience spoke of being pleasantly surprised.

“There is a lot more humor in it than I expected,” freshman Ellen Griffitts-Cohen said. “That really lightens it up. When people say ‘opera,’ I think of something kind of heavy and boring, but this is really light and funny.”

“The Magic Flute” was also not what freshman Keith Weisberg said he had expected.
“When I thought ‘opera,’ I thought of a traditional woman in a Viking helmet, spotlight on her type of thing,” Weisberg said. “This is really colorful; the voices are going up and down. It’s surprising. People are jumping around. It’s really full of
energy and fun to watch.”

Others echoed Griffitts-Cohen and Weisberg’s thoughts as they left the MAC.

Mattingly said she had expected “The Magic Flute,” her first opera, to be overly dramatic and boring.

“There is a stereotype that opera’s stuffy, and this wasn’t stuffy,” Mattingly said. “I didn’t realize they incorporated comedy.”

After the show, dozens of audience member crowded the hall leading to the Green Room where the cast and conductor Mark Gibson waited for the Meet-and-Greet.
“I’m thrilled for the cast,” Gibson said. “It was a great event.”