Elementary School stages "The Magic Flute" with help of a few professionals.
By: Rachel Silverman
At first, opera and elementary school may seem an unlikely pairing.
After all, most 5- to 10-year-old children would pick a tightly choreographed Britney Spears routine to a resounding Wagnerian aria any day.
But Wednesday afternoon at Riverside Elementary School, a packed auditorium of students showed nothing but smiles as they watched and performed in Mozart’s "The Magic Flute."
The hour-long show was the culminating act of New Jersey Opera Theater’s two-week-long "Interacting with Classics" program at Riverside.
"The whole school was working on different aspects of the project," company Education Director Peter Hoyle said, describing the arts-education initiative.
"We talked about various jobs in an opera company," he said, citing composition, makeup artistry and set design among the topics covered.
"Papageno came to each class and did exercises," Mr. Hoyle continued, referring to cameo appearances by the show’s main character, a jubilant bird catcher.
And for 16 lucky students, Mozart’s masterpiece offered a chance to ham it up on stage with professionals as they delighted the room with playful theatrics, colorful costumes and rich vibrato voices.
Throughout the two-week program, each school grade was cast in a separate role and assigned certain responsibilities.
"The fourth grade looked at the history of ‘The Magic Flute.’ They were our historians," Mr. Hoyle said. "Second grade did public relations. They made posters and a commercial, and studied how do we get an audience to come to our show."
"The goal is to enhance, in a multidimensional way, students understanding and appreciation of ‘The Magic Flute,’" the arts educator said.
According to Mr. Hoyle, opera is an art form that often calls for explanation.
"They need to understand what the story is. Many people are off-put (by opera), because they cannot follow the story line," he said.
And in Mr. Hoyle’s opinion, this strategy paid off enormously at Riverside.
"I don’t think they will ever forget ‘The Magic Flute.’ It will totally change the way they’ll go see any theatrical production," he gushed, gesturing to the room of giggling youngsters. "There’s something magic about the engine of theater."
For New Jersey Opera Theater, which has been selling out at the box office since its inception three years ago, education is a major component of the total performance package.
"Almost all opera companies have some outreach," Mr. Hoyle said. "But my background is arts in education. That is my passion.
"We’ve worked with something to the order of 33 schools in New Jersey, over the last 2½ years," he said. "We’re bringing out ‘Carmen’ and ‘The Barber of Seville,’ as well."
Fortunately for Riverside audiences, although the company may have bid students adieu for this year, the melodic young performers will grace Princeton stages again in the not-too-distant future.
"Next year, we’re creating original operatic works in each classroom," Mr. Hoyle said.

