Amahl and the Choate Visitors

We usually save "Amahl and the Night Visitors" for Epiphany.  I've never seen a live performance that didn't include Aaron.  Until now.

When a friend of ours said he was singing in a performance, we knew we had to attend.  This is one of our very favorite and most familiar operas.  We have high hopes to be a part of a performance one day, whether it's playing in the pit or singing in the shepherd's chorus or Aaron singing the part of Kaspar, the king, or maybe all of the above!

 The sweetest thing about this particular matinee performance at Wildwood Park for the Arts was the way the conductor spoke to the special audience of children to prepare them for the story.  And the way he drew them in again at the end when he wrapped up the conversation.  He told the children that Amahl had a problem and asked them to watch and identify the problem.  After the performance, he asked what Amahl's problem was, and the first answer was that his mother didn't believe him.  I was gobsmacked, because it was so obvious to me that Amahl had a physical problem - he was lame.

I needed the different perspective.  These kiddos carried on a thoughtful discussion with the conductor for just a few minutes before they moved on to dive into their sack lunches.  This is the perfect first opera, and I was excited to see such a young audience.  Especially a group that might not normally be exposed to a performance like this.  And this year, I was grateful that we didn't have any broken bones to accompany the opera!