Nashville Opera presents Amahl and the Night Visitors for holidays at Renaissance Center

Release Date: 11/6/2008. Expired: 11/6/2008

The story of a young boy who encounters three kings following a star to Bethlehem in search of the Savior will be told when Nashville Opera presents the holiday classic Amahl and the Night Visitors at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Saturday, Dec. 6.

The performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act opera also will include a concert of holiday favorites in the center’s Performance Hall.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors over 55 and $10 for children under 13. The evening will include a VIP Holiday Dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the center’s rotunda. There is a limited number of tables available for $450 per table, which includes the dinner and premium seating for the performance.

Commissioned by NBC in 1951 to create an opera specifically for television, Menotti composed a story that brought together elements of his childhood in Italy with the Biblical story of the Magi traveling with gifts in search of the baby Jesus and guided by a star.

Amahl and the Night Visitors became an instant holiday classic that was broadcast every Christmas holiday season for the next 15 years.

Amahl is a poor, crippled shepherd boy whose life is forever changed after a chance encounter with the three Kings on their way to Bethlehem. Menotti was inspired by the Italian tradition that it is the three Kings who bring gifts to the children on Christmas Eve, instead of the western tradition of Santa Claus. He drew on his own experience as a child with a lame leg in creating the central character.

The 1951 NBC broadcast marked the debut of the Hallmark Hall of Fame and was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.

For years, Amahl and the Night Visitors was presented live, but in 1963 it was videotaped by NBC with an all-new cast, and this version was shown 1963-66. After 1966, it seemed to have been retired from television, but in 1978, a new production, starring Teresa Stratas as Amahl's mother, Robert Sapolsky as Amahl, and Willard White, Giorgio Tozzi and Nico Castel as the Three Kings, was filmed by NBC, partly on location in the Holy Land. It, however, did not become an annual tradition the way the 1951 and 1963 versions had.

Amahl is a disabled boy who, although he has a kind and pleasant heart, has a problem with telling tall tales and, occasionally, lies. Because of this his mother does not believe him one evening when he tells her that there is an amazing star "as big as a window."

Later that night, there is a knock at the door and his mother tells him to go see who it is. He is amazed when he sees three splendidly dressed kings. They tell the mother and Amahl that they are on a long journey to give gifts to a wondrous child, and that they would like to rest at Amahl's house, to which the mother agrees. She goes to fetch all of her neighbors, so that the kings may be fed and entertained properly.

Later that night, however, the mother, being poor and also sickened at the thought of her child being a beggar, attempts to steal some gold that was meant for the Christ child, but is thwarted by the Kings' page. Upon seeing Amahl's weak defense of his mother, and realizing the mother's motives for the attempted theft, King Melchior says she may keep the gold, as the Holy Child will not need earthly power or wealth to build his kingdom.

The mother says that knowing of the Child's greatness, she wishes to send a gift but has nothing to send. Amahl, too, has nothing to give the Christ Child except his crutch, but he offers it, and as he does so, his leg is healed, and he joyfully leaves his mother and goes off with the three kings to see the child and give thanks for being healed.

Menotti, who passed away in February 2007, wrote more than 20 operas, all of them in English. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music twice and founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, in 1958 and its American counterpart, The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., in 1977.

“The joy of the holiday season rings out with every note in this emotional production. We are proud to present Nashville Opera’s performance of a program that became a holiday tradition for an entire generation,” said Bob Kucher, senior director of fine arts at The Renaissance Center. “Together with the opera’s Holiday Concert, the evening promises to be a celebration that is unparalleled in the nine-year history of The Renaissance Center. Our VIP Holiday Dinner is ideal for businesses and industries who want to reward employees or customers with a one-of-a-kind celebration.”

For more information on Nashville’s Opera’s performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors and its Holiday Concert at The Renaissance Center, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets for the performance or tables for the VIP Holiday Dinner, call (615) 740-5601.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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