The Christmas season will linger on next week when the Central Florida Lyric Opera Company presents “Amahl and The Night Visitors.”
The one-act opera will be performed Thursday, Jan. 4 and 5 at 7 p.m. in the New Covenant United Methodist Church, 3470 Woodridge Drive in The Villages.
It is the story of a young, disabled boy named Amahl, who lives with his widowed mother in Bethlehem. Amahl sees a star in the sky, and eventually meets three kings on their journey following the star.
Maestro Bill Doherty of the Central Florida Lyric Opera presents the local production. It features Sandra Lopez as the mother and Pip Williams as Amahl. The three kings are: Kaspar – played by Mark Schmidt – Melchoir, Jerod Eggleston, and Sam Reynolds as King Balthazar,
The opera was written by Gian Carol Menotti, after he was commissioned by the NBC television network. It was first performed on December 24, 1951 at NBC studios in New York City and was the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
The opera company describes the event this way:
“It is based on Italian folk tales of the Nativity and Epiphany, Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” is a retelling of the story of the Magi from the point of view of a young disabled boy named Amahl.
“He sees a bright star in the sky one night and tells his mother to go look, but she brushes him off, buried in concern over their bleak future and lack of means with which to support themselves. That night, three kings come across their meager hut and seek shelter, for they have traveled long and far following the star of which Amahl had spoken.”
