It might be difficult to convince most 13-year-olds to even go watch opera, let alone study it for months. But Barrett Lhamon is not most 13-year-olds, and he has done exactly that.
As the youngest singing performer in the Seattle Opera’s current production of “The Magic Flute,” the Woodward Middle School student has lived and worked with the music, the costumes, the story and the stage as member of the cast of a show the Seattle Times has called, “A delight for the eyes and the ears.”
Playing one of three Spirits who guide the main characters on their quest, Barrett casually dismisses the idea that being the youngest vocalist on stage is either a great achievement or a daunting challenge.
Instead, he said, he just happens to be the right guy for the job — for now, at least.
“I don’t think the age plays that big a role in that part,” he said. “Because, if I was older, since I’m 13, my voice will probably change.”
In the classic opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a handsome prince, Tamino, and his comical sidekick, Papageno, are given enchanted musical instruments and tasked with rescuing the Queen of the Night’s daughter from a mysterious group of priests led by Sarastro, a wise wizard and the benevolent ruler of the holy brotherhood. Undergoing trials of virtue, discretion and charity, they quickly realize that all may not be as they believed in their magical land.
It’s a fun story with an interesting message, Barrett said.
Nothing is what it seems at first, especially when it comes to those in charge.
“It’s not always good and bad,” he said. “Neither one of them deserved the power that they had.
“The storyline of ‘The Magic Flute’ is also really, really funny.”
Barrett, previously of Seattle, first got involved in music and theater when he was attending school on Mercer Island.
“Then, after I moved to Bainbridge, my voice teacher recommended trying out the opera,” he remembered.
The teen thespian has since been cast in Ovation! Performing Arts Northwest’s “Peter Pan,” as a lost boy, and in the Seattle Opera’s “Hansel and Gretel,” as a member of the youth chorus, last year. His role in “The Magic Flute” is his biggest part yet.
“I love performing,” Barrett said. “It’s fun.”
Rehearsals began in January, and practicing has consumed much of Barrett’s time since — “I go through the gestures every day” — so much so that, in fact, the rising star said he expects to “kind of feel empty” when the show finally wraps this weekend.
Not that the stage is this young man’s only passion. Far from it.
“I’m interested in engineering and robotics,” he said. “My favorite subject [in school] is computer science.”
Barrett credits the example and encouragement of his parents for his musical success.
“My parents helped me get started when I was really young,” he said. “My dad played piano through high school, and he’s really good.”
As advanced as he is on stage, though, in many other ways Barrett’s a totally normal teen. He doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up, his favorite movie is “Real Steel,” about giant boxing robots (he likes Star Wars, too, but said he hasn’t seen them all yet. “There’s a lot,” he laughed), and his favorite band is the a cappella phenomenon the Pentatonix.
“The Magic Flute” continues Friday, May 19, Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21 at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (321 Mercer St., Seattle).
Visit www.seattleopera.org for show times and ticket info, including special discounts on select performances.
