by An LA-based opera troupe re-enacts the classic Mozart opera, The Magic Flute, through a Nintendo lens, including many classic characters.
The LA-based Pacific Opera Project has recreated the Mozart opera, The Magic Flutewith a Nintendo theme. The original opera was one of Mozart’s last works, premiering just two months before his untimely and mysterious death. The Nintendo themed performance sees Donkey Kong along with Mario, Wario and Link take to the stage.
While Shigeru Miyamoto has more or less confirmed it Super Mario Bros 3 was actually just a play, the closest Nintendo has come to showing its classic characters on stage has been with the ill-received 1993 Super Mario Bros film, and more recently the more promising The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Pacific Opera Project has changed this; as a group with the goal of providing “quality opera that is accessible, affordable and entertaining,” it has mixed pop culture with Mozart before in Mozart and Star Trekand Mozart and Scarf. They even performed one Nintendo theme Magic flute in 2019, featuring the characters Donkey Kong, Wario, Zelda and Pit from Kid Icarus. The reimagining of The Magic Flute goes by the title Super Flute and sees Link take on the role of adventurer Tamino, while Mario takes on the role of bird collector Papageno. Tamino is sent on a mission to rescue the princess Pamina, in a story that mirrors the story of a typical one The Legend of Zelda plot.
The original work is considered to be quite complex and demanding for the vocal performances. Although Link is no stranger to musical instruments, and the characters fit the plot quite well, the leap to such an opera might be considered a stretch culturally. But the idea that the same kind of narrative is available across such a wide gap in medium strengthens the case for games to be considered a “real” art. This concept together with other strong cases, such as e.g Bioshock influence the idea of game art by using parallels to famous literary works, continue to make a bold case.
Elsewhere, players make strides to bridge pop culture and high art in unlikely settings Fall out. Fallout 76 players have hosted a Shakespeare festival where they have recreated classic plays such as A midsummer night’s dream and Romeo and Julie. These efforts, whether by players in the game, actors on stage, or by developers making the games, show that the world of video games has great potential to communicate to audiences on many different levels and connect people in ways that may have seemed to be impossible.
Source: Nintendo Life
