Our 2009 Productions
South Island Tour Term 2 for 2009
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Artists performing in The Magic Flute downloadable pdf
First performed in 1791, The Magic Flute was written for the populous in Austria after Mozart became tired of the patronage style of operas (being commissioned and controlled by wealthy backers) so prevalent at the time.
Synopsis
Tamino, the hero, slays a dragon (played by children from your school) at the beginning of the opera. However Papageno, a feathered bird catcher, claims he was the slayer. To punish him for this lie the Three Ladies lock his mouth up. They then beg Tamino to rescue the Princess Pamina who is being held against her will by Monostatos.
He falls in love with her picture and willingly agrees to find her. Tamino tries, without success, to unlock the mouth of the struggling Papageno. The Three Ladies appear again and remove the lock. They give Tamino a magic flute to aid him in his quest to save the Queen’s daughter, Pamina. To Papageno, who is commanded to accompany Tamino, they give a set of magic bells to protect him on the journey.
Tamino and Papageno journey to the evil Monostaotos’ domain to rescue Pamina. Using the magic flute and bells they tame Monostatos and his wild animals (played by children from your school) and they rescue Pamina. Of course Tamino and Pamina fall in love! Poor old Papageno is still seeking a wife and with a little bit of help with magic and the three ladies he finds his perfect wife in Papagena and everyone lives happily ever after.
As always Class Act Opera will use children within the opera from each school they visit and the opera will be fully staged, costumed and sung in English. The best of Mozart’s wonderful music is combined with this magical fairytale abridged to ensure the story is both understandable and entertaining for children. When we last mounted The Magic Flute it proved to be our largest tour in the history of Class Act Opera.
North Island Tour Term 2 & Auckland Only Term 3 for 2009
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Artists performing in The Elixir of Love downloadable pdf
Synopsis
It is a gloriously sunny day at an idyllic New Zealand beach, our heroine, Adina, saunters across stage and settles herself into her beach chair to read and soak up some sun. Our eventually to be hero, Nemorino, spots her coming and hides so as to admire Adina anonymously. He tells us how lovely she is and she shares what she has been reading with us. It appears from Adina’s magazine that Katie Holmes received a little help from an elixir of love when she snared Tom Cruise.
This fascinates Nemorino as he needs Adina to love him the way he has loved her for the many years her parents have owned the camping ground our opera is set in. As Nemorino ponders all this and psyches himself up to approach Adina, Justin Timberlake, the rock star bursts on stage with air guitar and sweeps Adina off her feet right under Nemorino’s prominent nose. Justin suggests a dinner and leaves to find a restaurant. Nemorino asks Adina not to meet Justin but she informs him that she wants to have a little fun and she couldn’t possibly find Nemorino attractive so he should go to the city to look after his sick, rich uncle. She then leaves to meet Justin but keeps missing him as he chases every other woman he sees. Meanwhile Dr Dulcamara arrives, selling lotions and potions. Dear gullible Nemorino assumes this man will have the potion Katie used to catch Tom and of course the conman sells him a bottle of cheap wine which he tells Nemorino will do the trick.
Justin and Adina find each other on stage and Justin then spices it all up with a hint of a proposal of marriage which, of course, blows Nemorino’s mind. Justin suggests marriage in one week, then being the showman he is offers today as a better plan. Nemorino completely flips out and begs for a delay, but won’t explain why. Justin tries to solve the problem with violence and Adina stops him. A desperate Nemorino buys another bottle from Dulcamara and waits optimistically for it to work.
In the meantime, the wily old Dulcamara has spread the word that Nemorino has inherited millions of dollars from his uncle and so naturally our unlikely hero becomes the most popular man in the village. This combined with his drunken belief that the elixir is working give him an air of confidence that causes Adina to take a closer look at her childhood friend and realise that he is the man of her dreams. Dulcamara takes the credit and they all celebrate the moment in song.
(By Class Act Opera)
