Amahl and the Night Visitors

I am an admirer of Menotti and his music, especially for the brilliant orchestration. Amahl and the Night Visitors is my personal favourite, with a truly emotional and always believable story and the music is simply beautiful.

This 1978 production is itself great. The problem is the VHS transfer, of all the videos and DVDs in my quite extensive(and still growing) opera collection, the transfer for the 1978 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors is one of the least satisfying, with shoddy/murky picture quality and constant colour shifts and distorted sound with a very unpleasant hiss played in Hi-Fi. This is especially apparent with the solos of the Mother, as I will say though Stratas is brilliant so there is one reason to at least tolerate it.

However, Amahl and the Night Visitors is a Christmas tradition for me and especially with the singing this one is one I like to revisit. The costumes and sets are splendid, despite the picture quality the production is shot in a somewhat cinematic style which I loved and I thought the staging generally was fine, though the staging with the light skipping music while Amahl was just standing there at the door instead of taking trips to and from it seemed rather disjointed for my tastes.

Musically, with Menotti's wonderful music, it is very solid. The tempos are quite slow, but the orchestra play beautifully and the conducting is appropriately tender. Besides, while people may argue that these tempos are slower than those of Menotti himself, I think the slow tempos further added to how moving the whole production was.

The singing is fantastic. Willard White as he always was/is is very commanding and his singing is still virile and rich, and Nico Castel proves himself to be a great character tenor with superb diction and often beautiful tone. Teresa Stratas both dramatically and vocally embodies the role of the Mother. Robert Sapolsky is also appealing in the title role.

Overall, I love the production, but it really does deserve a better transfer than this. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I thought the film was very satisfying.I was tickled to see Williard White as Balthazzar, and Teresa Stratas portrayed the Mother with perfection. The little boy was okay, but his voice was blatant at times. The interpretation of the score was excellent also, tempo and all. The only problems I had were 1): the interior of the house was a little small and made those scenes feel cramped; 2): the cinematography was not not great. Surely they could have done a better job with that, and 3): the sound was in mono. I suppose it was recorded that way, but again, they could have tried harder.

All in all, a very satisfying film and a good introduction to this classic opera.

Gian Carlo Menotti delivers a Christmas classic with Amahl and the Night Visitors. It is the touching story of a crippled boy who is visited by the Three Wise Men on their way to see the newborn Jesus Christ. Arnin Brown directs this made for TV production and brings new life to Menotti's music and words. His set design, although small, is perfect for an intimate feel of Menotti's story and brings the audience right into the home of this impoverished Hebrew family. Supporting Menotti's music and Brown's staging is a stellar cast of performers whom shine as bright as the star over Bethlehem.

Familiar face Willard White portrays the wise Balthazar, king of Sheba. His booming and rich bass-baritone voice is supported by his believable facial expressions and commanding stage presence, which keeps the eye well focused on him throughout the opera. Appearing as the Arabian King Kaspar is Italian diction pedagogue Nico Castel. Castel, who is hailed as one of the greatest character tenors of our time, delivers a performance that echoes his title. His quirky mannerisms matched with his clear diction and ingenious interpretations of the text create a character that is wholly honest and believable, as well as comic. This is perceived especially in Kaspar's arietta, "This is My Box." However, the star that shines brightest is Teresa Stratas as Amahl's mother. Her lyric-soprano interprets Menotti's music and words masterfully to the point that her delivery of the text is as natural as spoken dialogue. While vocal musicality is enough for many prime donne, it was not for Ms. Stratas. In fact, her musical prowess is only outmatched by physical characterization. Not only did her face show the emotions the character was feeling, but her whole body seemed to be driven by the same emotions. Towards the end of the opera, the Kings are asleep and The Mother sees the unattended box of gold to be presented to the newborn King. At this dramatic moment, Ms. Stratas is entirely her character as her eyes shine green with greed and she sits only quietly singing to herself, "All that gold!"

Amahl and the Night Visitors is not a typical opera by most standards. One will not sit through four hours of big divas with spears and horned helmets, nor will he find fat tenors singing high C's to women with double D's. One will find however, an honest story of sorrow, pity, greed, rage, and forgiveness and all of it in about the time it takes Mike Wallace to read the Sunday news. Gian Carlo Menotti's imagination and the Christmas spirit collaborate on this beautifully simple opera to bring us a timeless work of art.

This is such a lovely version of of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in my opinion. For me, the Christmas season would not be Christmas without it! Teresa Stratas has always been a favorite Opera singer of mine and she shines in this role so brightly. An added plus was Giorgio Tozzi as Melchior. In case you are not a fan of musicals or opera, Tozzi was the singing voice of Rossano Brazzi in the movie version of South Pacific, and it was a treat to realize that the singing voice from my Dad's old vinyl soundtrack record was also in this production. It is a crime that this version is only on VHS and has not been made into DVD format so that more people can enjoy it!