In the desert lands of the first century, a young boy catches the sight of a giant star. Later that evening, as his mother prays for the family’s future, they are visited by three mysterious kings on a journey to visit a newborn child. This is the tale of how a simple gift can become a miracle that transforms the world. Helmed by acclaimed Tony® Award-winning director Kenny Leon, this fresh and acoustically intimate take on the classic captures every aching emotion in composer Gian Carlo Menotti’s score. AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS celebrates the wonder and joy of the season for audiences, young and old. 23 performances only!
As agreeably staged and performed as this Amahl and the Night Visitors may be, will youngsters of today enjoy it? Don’t ask me. An elevated work, it remains a worthy though stodgy musical drama developed upon a Christian theme. More practically, will a 45-minute opera prove too long a haul for the TikTok crowd? While the sound design by Marc Salzberg seems sufficiently crisp, the use of supertitles might be necessary for young ears accustomed to headphones. The brief holiday run of the production offers eight matinees. Hopefully Lincoln Center Theater will survey the younger spectators for their reactions.
Lincoln Center Theater’s Amahl and the Night Visitors might not be just the thing for all audiences: it is a bona fide opera (written and performed in English) with religious subject matter, running under 50 minutes. But good theater is good theater, I say, and Lincoln Center’s production of Menotti’s Amahl is good theater.
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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