THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPERA
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2003
Technology benefits theater finale
Prine Tamino, Josh Mochel, St. Charles, Mo., senior, sings about Princess Pamina, Soyoun Lim, Lawrence graduate student, during a rehearsal of The Magic Fute. Through digital help, Princess Pamina's head floated behind him while he sang during rehearsal yesterday.
Kelley Weiss/Kansan
By Donovan Atkinson
datkinson@kansan.com
Jayplay staff writer
Conventional sets and costumes make way for modern technology in the University Theatre's closing show of the season. The Magic Flute, a joint effort between University Theatre and the department of music and dance, uses real-time computer animation to create elements of sets and costumes.
Because it has so many elements of fantasy — ranging from dragons, Genii and powerful sorcerers, The Magic Flute, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is a good choice for production with virtual reality technology, said Mark Reaney, professor of theater and film.
"It's one of the masterpieces of the operatic repertoire," said Delbert Unruh, director and professor of theatre and film. "It's a much beloved opera."
The Magic Flute, first staged in 1791, is the story of the predestined love between a prince and a princess. The Queen informs Tamino that her daughter, Pamina, is being held captive by her evil father, the sorcerer Sorastro.
Conventional sets and costumes make way for modern technology in the University Theatre's closing show of the season. The Magic Flute uses real-time computer animation to create elements of sets and costumes.
Tamino instantly falls in love with Pamina, and is soon charged with rescuing her. The Queen of the Night gives Tamino a magic flute that will protect him. The Queen's bird catcher, Papageno, is instructed to accompany Tamino.
Tamino and Papageno
reach the lands of Sorastro and soon learn that it is the Queen of the Night who is evil, not the sorcerer. Pamina is safe with her father, who will allow Tamino to marry her. But before the two can wed, Tamino must first pass a series of trials.
The special effects for the production are animated in real-time, not pre-
recorded, and are manipulated either backstage or by crew members in the audience. The effects are projected onto screens that are either held by stage hands or positioned on the stage as scenic backdrops.
The use of projection allows for an improved flow in the production, Unruh said. Scenes can be changed quickly without closing the curtain and moving pieces of scenery around.
"We can do special effects that you can't do in normal theater or are too expensive
for us to do." Reaney said.
Reaney has been conducting research in the use of virtual reality technology for the
'The Magic Flute'
The University Theatre and the department of music and dance will present The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at 7:30 p.m. on April 26 and May 1 to 3 and at 2:30 p.m. on April 27 and May 4 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Delbert Unruh, professor of theater and film, directed the production. It will feature virtual reality scenic elements by Mark Reaney, professor of theater and film.
stage for 10 years and has designed the applications used in the production of The Magic Flute. Productions that Reaney has staged using virtual reality technology include William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the University of Kent in England and Dinosaurus for the University Theatre's Theatre for Young People program.
To save the cast's voices, for each principal role, two actors are cast.
"It lessens the vocal demands of the principals," Unruh said. "We're working with student singers. There's no point in ruining their voices now."
The opera will be sung in German with dialogue in English. To prepare for singing the role of Tamino in German, Brandon Snook, Richardson, Texas, sophomore, and one of the actors cast as Tamino, translated the lyrics word by word.
"I still don't know German, but I know what I'm singing." Snook said.
Mozart originally wrote The Magic Flute as a song play, having more spoken dialogue than a conventional opera. For the University Theatre production the dialogue has been condensed. The changes in dialogue have made the opera easier to understand, Snook said.
"It's more of an opera than a play with songs," Snook said of the University Theatre production.
Despite changes to the dialogue and the addition of modern technology, the story of The Magic Flute remains one of the triumph of good over evil and the triumph of love in the face of adversity.
"This is a production for the young at heart," Unruh said, "which I hope includes everyone."
-Edited by Christy Dendurent
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