Begale, who will play the title character on opening night, said he knows the meaning of every line in Mozart’s 18th century Italian classic.

“It’s better once you become completely acquainted (with the language),” said Begale, a music performance and music education senior. “I know everything everyone’s saying in the opera because you need to understand how to react to add a piece of yourself to every line.”

The show will open at 8 p.m. tonight in Wharton Center’s Fairchild Theatre. There also will be an 8 p.m. show on Saturday and a 3 p.m. show Sunday.

Although the show will be in Italian, there will be English subtitles on a screen above the stage, said Melanie Helton, an associate professor of voice, the producer of the opera and the director of MSU Opera Theatre.

The costumes arrived early last week and once dress rehearsals began, Helton said she noticed a difference.

“Last night (Jonathan Kirkland) made a huge improvement in acting,” she said. “He said it was the wig. It made him feel different.”

Performing in front of the full orchestra is likely to have a different effect on the actors, she said.

The orchestra has been practicing since the beginning of the semester as well and the conductor Raphael Jimenez said the music is coming together nicely.

His job as conductor is to make sure the balance between the music and the singing is perfect, he said.

“Making sure the orchestra provides nice support for singers, but not overpowering the singers, that’s another particularly important part to conducting operas,” said Jimenez, an associate professor of conducting.

The show is double-cast, so Begale will take Saturday night off and allow Matthew Scollin to fill in. It will be a well-deserved break, he said.

“I’ve really had to build stamina. It’s a really long opera, and I have to sing a ton. It’s a sport and I have to workout all the time or my body won’t let me do it,” he said. “There’s so much detail. Mentally, too, you have to be prepared.”