Amahl and the Night Visitors - a Christmas Classic

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kport
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Amahl and the Night Visitors - a Christmas Classic

Post by kport »

It is that time of year when regional productions of Gian Carlo Menotti's one act opera is performed in many regional theatres around the country - and beyond.

Here are some upcoming events - check your local listings for one in your region:
Opera Fort Collins will present "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 21, in Griffin Concert Hall, University Center for the Arts.

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" — Just Off Broadway production at Theatre at West Shore Station, 27 S. Water St., Newburgh, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13-14, 2 p.m. Dec. 14-15. Tickets $15-$18. 875-4325, ext. 3. justoffbwy.com.

Newnan, Delware “Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be presented Thursday night at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts — and admission is now free.

The show starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Centre, Lower Fayetteville Road, Newnan.


Florida Boys Choir - at the Straz, Tampa: Sun Dec. 22 4 p.m.

The Florida BoyChoirs join together with USF Opera to present this special Christmas performance for the entire family. The program opens with a concert of Christmas choral music by the ChoirBoys of the Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Tampa BoyChoirs along with alumni and men’s voices. Part two of the performance is a fully staged production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. The program will be accompanied by orchestra with Choir Master Brian Collar conducting.
There are many more around the country being performed over the next few weeks. It is an excellent work for this time of year.

Since NBC is broadcasting live Broadway musicals (The Sound of Music) with more planned for the future, perhaps it will add 'Amahl' to its lineup (it was written for live NBC broadcast on Dec. 24 1951, and repeated in other years; taped without the composers permission in 1963; and again in 1978.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzx-s46vjpY (1951)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC2vUR4m_Mw (1978)

A thought - had it been rebroadcast in a new version by NBC this Christmas, Noah Parets would have been the perfect Amahl. And next year - Sam Poon.
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ERinVA
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Re: Amahl and the Night Visitors - a Christmas Classic

Post by ERinVA »

I would love to see the original Hallmark production of "Amahl" rebroadcast.

Interestingly, the boy who played Amahl--now a church choir director in NC--was the son of members of the congregation of the church where I sang in the choir for 30 years while living in that state.
Ellen



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mikey2573
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Re: Amahl and the Night Visitors - a Christmas Classic

Post by mikey2573 »

I directed a production of AMAHL this past Christmas here in NH. It was a show I always wanted to direct as I believe it is a classic, and it doesn't seem to be done that much. In fact, it was not the show I was supposed to do. Originally I had been asked to direct A CHRISTMAS STORY (non-musical), but Dramatic Publishers,who own the rights to that play, kept us waiting on the rights for far too long. Apparently the musical version playing in Hartford CT and Boston had them thinking that NH was too close, so they sat on the rights. After a phone call to the company ended with me being advised to have an alternate title, I decided to go with AMAHL and got the approval of the theater company. I secured a Music Director and began pursuing the rights. A day later I got an email from Dramatic Publishers granting me the rights to A CHRISTMAS STORY. Too late!!

Of course, any production of AMAHL depends on a boy who can play the title role so I held auditions just for that part, figuring it would be the hardest to cast. I got only two boys to audition. They were both very good. One got the part the other was the understudy. So I had found TWO Amahls!

Then came the auditions for the rest of the cast held on two consecutive Saturdays.
No one showed up.
NO ONE!

I started visiting various arts and theater groups' musical productions. Someone was doing a night of Gilbert and Sullivan and there I found my Mother and one of my Kings. I found one other King via the internet. We went into rehearsal with two Amahls, one Mother and two Kings. That was it. I spent the next month gathering the rest of the cast together. It was not easy (especially finding the SHepherd's Chorus) but I managed to do it.
The show was an artistic success --we had a 5 piece orchestra and one of the biggest problems was how to heat an old theater with NO HEAT in one of the coldest winters ever (answer: Propane torpedo heaters!).
Anyway, with the money we had to pay the MD and the 4 additional musicians, there was no way the show was going to make money and we ended up losing close to $2,000 on the production, but the small number of people who did come out to see it (about 160 over 3 performances) absolutely loved it, with quite a few people leaving the theater with tears in their eyes. And it was an experience that I will never forget.
I really do love that show!

I have the original broadcast on DVD as well as two with William McIver (1951, 1952 and 1955) plus the 1963 broadcast. I watch them all every Christmas. It just is not Christmas in my house without AMAHL.
I would love to see this come back to TV. I know that Audra McDonald has expressed interest in playing the Mother. She'd be great!
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