Dr. Blaine Hendsbee is excited as a pair of young lovers for The University of Lethbridge’s first full scale production of Mozart’s popular opera  “The Magic Flute,” which runs Feb. 3-4 at Southminster United Church.
“It’s out first collaboration with them, but we’d like to do it annually,” said Dr. Blaine Hendsbee, the Magic Flute’s director, stage director and producer who is also a University of Lethbridge professor and founded the University of Lethbridge opera workshop.
In 2009 they did a smaller scale project with the symphony, Amahl and the Night Visitors.
“That was a much smaller scale. With this one, we hope to do an annual collaboration,” he said.

“The Magic Flute is  a quest. It’s a wonderful story of one man’s (the noble prince Tamino, played by played by Jason Ragan)  search for  courage and love and in the process of finding the love of his life ( Princess Pamina played by U of L masters in voice student Rachel Sinnott) they meet an evil queen (The Queen of the night played by University of Lethbridge alumni Audrina Steciw) and a delightful half bird, half man (Papageno played by Ian Fundytus) who is also looking for love ( Papagena played by Lillian  Zheng),” he enthused.

Ian Fundytus and Lillian  Zheng are  excited about being part of the Magic Flute.
 While Fundytus has performed in operas before, it  will be a new experience for Zheng.
“It’s  probably Mozart’s best known opera,” Fundytus said.
“You can look at it in so many different ways. It can be a fairy tale or fantasy or a comedy, a metaphorical allegory or just sit back and enjoy it,” he continued.
“Hopefully the audiences will come and get excited about it,” Zheng said.

  They have gone all out for their first collaboration. The stage, set at the front of Southminster United Church, features an array of movable pillars, which can be adjusted according to the scene. Vox Musica will be in the east balcony providing an 80 person vocal chorus and the symphony will be playing behind the stage, but with a video link for the 30 member cast can watch the conductor, maestro Glenn Klassen for their cues.

University Of Lethbridge’s Theatre XTra is exploring their science fiction side in their new production “Possible Worlds” which runs at the David Spinks Theatre, Jan. 26-28.
“There are two stories going on at the same time,” explained director Ryan Reese.
 There is a couple who are trying to make a relationship work played by seasoned veteran Greg Wilson and Hannah Rud while one of them notices the world changing. On the other hand, there is also a pair of detectives ( Rafaela DeCruz and James McCarthy), who are investigating a bizarre set of murders.
“ So it is a science fiction murder mystery,” Reese said.

Possible Worlds was written by Canadian playwright John Mighton won the Governor General’s Award in 1992.
“It’s not as well known as I thought, but it did win a Governor General’s Award. But what drew me to it is it was so interesting. I read it and I read it over and over again,” he continued.

 They have been rehearsing for the play for the past three weeks and are putting the finishing touches on it before opening night.
“We have three relative newcomers who have never been on stage at the University of Lethbridge and one veteran in his first major role,” he continued.

Hatrix Theatre is getting the Jitters this spring and preparing for the Evil Dead: The Musical to come to Lethbridge in the fall.

 The new, southern Alberta Theatre group are holding auditions, Jan, 18-19 at Westminster School for the popular David French play, which runs May 23-25 at the Moose Lodge
“It’s a two act comedy. It’s a twist on any community theatre performance,” summarized  Brian Quinn, who will be holding auditions for director Caroline Harker, who is on vacation.

 “The people in the show are all part of a  play called “For the Care and Treatment of Roses.  And not to spoil anything, but the play starts as a rehearsal for ‘Care and Treatment of Roses’ for about 15 minutes when they break character and begin ‘Jitters,” he enthused.
 Everything goes wrong in the play as chaos and a lot of laughs result.
 They need six men and three women— one woman needs to be a more mature 40 plus actress to play the aging diva who is hoping to make a comeback, her leading man — a local celebrity who resents her haughtiness.

“ And we want the male lead to be 40 or 50 plus. We don’t want to  dress up a high school student and dress them up to make her look older for those parts,” he said.