Get ready to travel back in time at the Franklin Opera House with America’s only authentic Magic Lantern Theater! Here’s your chance to experience what was all the rage 120 years ago when the Opera House first opened. Everyone joined in the fun of watching these Magic Lantern shows on the big screen, clapping and stomping one minute and moved to tears the next. Colors swirled, animated cartoons cavorted, dramatic stories unfolded. Young and old sat mesmerized, mouths agape. National Public Radio says, “It’s an incredible experience. If they come to your town, don’t miss them. They’re a living national treasure.”

The Magic Lantern Show was, in fact, the direct ancestor of the movies. A huge brass-and-mahogany projector lit with gas “limelight” rapidly projected hand-colored slides on the screen. The slides, many of them animated, illustrated stories, songs, and comedy. A live showman and musician provided the soundtrack, and the audience joined in creating sound effects, playing horns and tambourines, chanting and clapping, booing and cheering.

The content of the melodramatic early movies was often lifted from successful magic lantern shows, and many of the earliest movie projectors were simply adapted magic lantern projectors.

In the upcoming Franklin Opera House presentation, “Spring Magic Lantern Show,” a beautiful country girl and a rich city judge miss their chance for love and spend the rest of their lives dreaming of “what might have been.” A highlight of the show will be the story of Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This dramatic and moving poem by an American author tells the fictional story of Evangeline’s struggles during an actual historic event.

Don’t miss this big-screen extravaganza on April 8 at 7 PM! Tickets are $8 to $16 and are available online at FranklinOperaHouse.org, or call 934-1901.