Out of the Mouths of Babes... - a student weighs in on Madama Butterfly

BLO welcomes the next generation of opera-goers to the Shubert Theatre by inviting high school classrooms and college students the opportunity to attend the Final Dress Rehearsal of each production for free.  On October 31, 178 students and teachers attended the Final Dress Rehearsal of Madama Butterfly.  In exchange for the dress rehearsal passes, students were asked to write short reviews of their night at the opera.  This year we received a number of insightful, inventive, and candid responses from students across the Boston area.  One of these reviews, written by Megan Dineen, is highlighted below.   

I enjoyed [Madama Butterfly] because it was the first [opera] I have ever seen.  It was interesting how there was not just spoken words, but everything was sung in Italian.  Even though the story was sung in a different language it was very clear and easy to understand.  Without reading the subtitles you could easily see that it was about a woman with a lot of struggles who fell in love.  You could feel their pain and emotion through their tones and through the music.  I was really able to connect to the characters and understand her even though it was in a different language.  The live music was something different and something I really enjoyed.  The music played a big role in the tone of the opera.  Since the tone was constantly changing I got to hear many different tempos of music.  I even liked hearing and seeing the last and final changes being made to the opera.  It was almost like a backstage pass into how they put on that type of production.  Overall this opera was a very interesting and educating experience.  I do plan on going to more operas in the future because of this one.

– Megan Dineen, Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School, 2012

We want to thank teachers for their continued interest and participation in our educational programming and for sharing these important artistic experiences with their students!

In the wise words of a recent 5^th grade opera attendee, “Every opera tells a story.”  Storytelling is at the heart of opera, and BLO works hard to share the greatest classic and contemporary opera tales with its audiences.  We hope that you will take a moment to share with us YOUR stories about your favorite BLO moments.  Visit blo.org to read others’ stories and to submit your own.