Production Dates
December 17, 7 pm
McPherson Opera House
219 S Main St
McPherson, Kansas
December 18, 7pm
Hillside Christian Church
8330 E Douglas Ave
Wichita, Kansas
December 19, 7 pm
Hesston Mennonite Church
309 S Main St
Hesston, Kansas
December 21, 2 pm
Westwood Presbyterian Church
8007 W Maple St
Wichita, Kansas
December 21, 7 pm
Kidron Bethel Village
3001 Ivy Dr.
North Newton, Kansas
Production Personnel
Director: Mykayla Fitzpatrick
Assistant Director: Kaitlyn George
Music Director: Guillermo de la Garza
Pianist-Coaches: Alexander Amick, Desmond Henderson,
Guzal Isametdinova, Tim Sanchez
Costume Designer: Jen Stephenson
Set Design/Construction: J. Bradley Baker
Cast
Amahl:
Allie Brault, Nalani Defensor, Elise Strain
Mother:
Samantha Balboa, Natacha Condor, Julia Pace
King Kaspar:
Bryce Comeaux, Filip Duda, Benjamin South
King Melchior:
Jack Cozad, Alan Hollinger, Max Kramer
King Balthazar:
James H. Eagle, Jackson Phillips, William Rhys
Page:
Ensemble:
Faylee Crawford
Madison Hershberger
McKenzie Comeaux
Emmalynn Reilly
Karla Clemens
Haley Hunt
Neve Moore
Lily Negroponte
Ella Selden
Leah Alexandra Smith
Pete W. Garcia IV
Trayden Goodman
Hayden Kiker
Mark Lokkesmoe
Kirkland Fenerty
Zachary Bligh Kelly
Marcus Wilkerson
About the 2025 Production
Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) wrote over twenty operas in his long and prolific career. His works have garnered both critical acclaim and popular support, twice winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music as well as the prestigious New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best musical play. Menotti is considered by many to be the most important American opera composer, and is often called “the American Puccini.” Due to the huge success of The Medium (1946), Menotti received the first ever commission for a television opera from NBC, resulting in his well-known Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951). This beloved work was premiered by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, and was broadcast every year at Christmas time on NBC for over a decade. Since its composition, Amahl has remained among the most frequently performed operas in the United States today.
Composition Date: 1951
Runtime: 45 minutes
Plot Summary:
Place: Near Bethlehem.
Time: The first century, just after the birth of Christ
Amahl, a disabled boy who can walk only with a crutch, has a problem with telling tall tales. He is sitting outside playing his shepherd’s pipe when his mother calls for him (“Amahl! Amahl!”). After much persuasion, he enters the house but his mother does not believe him when he tells her there is an amazing star “as big as a window” outside over their roof (“O Mother You Should Go Out and See”; “Stop Bothering Me!”).
Later that night, Amahl’s mother weeps, praying that Amahl not become a beggar (“Don’t Cry Mother Dear”). After bedtime (“From Far Away We Come”), there is a knock at the door and the mother tells Amahl to go see who it is (“Amahl … Yes Mother!”). He is amazed when he sees three splendidly dressed kings (the Magi). At first the mother does not believe Amahl, but when she goes to the door to see for herself, she is stunned. The Three Kings tell the mother and Amahl they are on a long journey to give gifts to a wondrous Child and they would like to rest at their house, to which the mother agrees (“Good Evening!”; “Come In!”), saying that all she can offer is “a cold fireplace and a bed of straw”. The mother goes to fetch firewood, and Amahl seizes the opportunity to speak with the kings. King Balthazar answers Amahl’s questions about his life as a king and asks what Amahl does. Amahl responds that he was once a shepherd, but his mother had to sell his sheep. Now, he and his mother will have to go begging. Amahl then talks with King Kaspar, who is childlike, eccentric, and a bit deaf. Kaspar shows Amahl his box of magic stones, beads, and licorice, and offers Amahl some of the candy (“Are You A Real King?”; “This is My Box”). The mother returns (“Amahl, I Told You Not To Be A Nuisance!”). He defends himself, saying “They kept asking me questions,” when of course it has in fact been Amahl asking the kings questions. Amahl is told to go fetch the neighbors (“All These Beautiful Things”; “Have You Seen a Child?”) so the kings may be fed and entertained properly (“Shepherds! Shepherds!”; “Emily! Emily”; “Olives and Quinces”; “Dance of the Shepherds”).
After the neighbors have left and the kings are resting, the mother attempts to steal for her son some of the kings’ gold that was meant for the Christ Child (“All That Gold”). She is thwarted by the kings’ page (“Thief! Thief!”). When Amahl wakes to find the page grabbing his mother, he attacks him (“Don’t You Dare!”). Seeing Amahl’s defense of his mother and understanding the 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 (“Oh, Woman, You Can Keep That Gold”). The mother says she has waited all her life for such a king and asks the kings to take back the gold. She wishes to send a gift but has nothing to send. Amahl, too, has nothing to give the Child except his crutch (“Oh, No, Wait”). When he offers it to the kings, his leg is miraculously healed (“I Walk, Mother”). With permission from his mother, he leaves with the kings to see the Child and give his crutch in thanks for being healed.
