Opera is alive & well in Metrowest suburbs of Boston. On Saturday night, April 24th, we attended the Metrowest opera which performed "The Magic Flute" by W.,A. Mozart. at the Theater at Weston Town Hall at 11 Townhouse Road in Weston, MA. The Metrowest opera collaborative was established in 2007 and is now in its 3rd season. My daughter, Elana works with Erin Smith who was singing Pamina that night. It indeed turned out to be a marvelous evening. The enture cast and production team deserve a lot of credit for a superlative performance. There was a small orchestra with 22 players who were able to fill the hall with joyous music. Most notable were the 2 flutes including picollo and the typanist who doubled on the keybord for the accompanied solos for Papageno. The Queen of the Night played by Rebecca Hains was terrific with soaring coloratura on her solo parts.
The most refreshing part of the evening was viewing an updated version of the well known opera cast in a 1920's boarding school. Minimalist sets included a few benches and a large desk on forboding blackboard complete with math equations. The costumes ranged from janitor's overalls, knickers to a beguiling flapper dress complete with arm length gloves. The three ladies were dressed in simple black dresses with knee socks. Papageno played with a music box, rather than the traditional mouth organ. The music was perhaps a tad loud at times forcing the singers to notch up their volume, but they really had so few instruments that they needed to be quite robust in their interpretation.
We even had time for a quick dessert at Park Street Ice Cream in Natick a local legend.
This establishment opposite the Natick Common is a family run business that makes their own ice cream and is well known and supported.
If you have the chance - go see the Magic Flute on Saturday, May 1st at 7:30pm or Sunday, May 2nd at the 3pm at the Weston Town Hall and you will be sure to have a great time. One suggestion though - sit downstairs as the balcony tended to be quite warm. Light refreshments are served at the intermission and you are allowed to bring them into the hall.
One only had to attend to see the joy in the performers faces at the performance to know that they had done their job well and the audience applauded enthusiastically.
Yes, this is the future of opera - our youth and aspiring artists. There are many challenging hurdles ahead of these young performers, but they have done a spectacular job of continued nurturing of this wonderful artform.
What a fun time we had! In my opinion, Erin was the true star of the show!!!
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