I staged this charming opera a number of times years ago at my church in Red Bank, NJ and even took it on the road to several nearby churches. Because we were doing several performances, and because we needed to cover the title role in case of emergencies, I began training three boys in the role of Amahl the previous spring.
Wisely, it turns out. In September I got a call from one of the boys who had become a baritone over the summer. That left me with two Amahls, each of whom sang a couple of performances.
Another anecdote that concerns that production is the fact that when I tried to find some young people in the church to do the dance segment, I was put in touch with a young girl named Carol, who studied dance. She said that she and her friend could arrange the dance. When I saw it I was amazed at how good it was. She told me that her friend's teacher had choreographed it for them.
Her teacher was George Balanchine.
Today's program began with an hour of Christmas music sung by a children's choir, directed by Brian Burkhardt. They sang with a beautiful free sound and were always in pitch. They had sneaked a few older 'ringers' in the back row, but they had light voices and helped on the high notes so all was well.
The opera was conducted by Victoria Bond and the orchestra was located behind the set on stage, a very good idea for balance. The cast included Karissa Burkhardt, as Amahl, Barbara Landis, as the mother, Christopher Lorimer as Kaspar, Aaron Stegemöller as Melchior, Patrick Blackwell as Balthazar, and Robert Brady as The Page. They all sang very well. I especially liked Messrs. Stegemöller and Blackwell. Miss Burkhardt did a very good job as Amahl, but I really prefer hearing this part sung by a boy. There is a distinct different between a young girl's voice and that of a young boy, which I missed.It was a delightful afternoon and I always shed a few tears when Amahl wants to send his crutch to the Christchild.
