I took my son to see Amahl and the Night Visitors

[tigereye]

this past weekend. I remember seeing the opera on TV in the 60s and I never forgot it - it was wonderful and funny, although it was hard to understand all of the words. Anyone else like this classic?

or tell me about some other Christmas play or concert you and yours enjoyed.

[signmike]

1. Does Amahl have a twin brother named Juan?

Once you've seen Juan you've seen Amahl.


hyuck hyuck :D

[tigereye]

2. ha ha

silly person. :hi:

[Sabriel]

15. Ouch, that was painful to read.

Thanks for the laugh.

[Misunderestimator]

3. That was the first opera I ever performed...

as the Mother, in high school, and then professionally a few times.

[MuseRider]

4. Me too only in the pit.

I have fond memories of it.

[Misunderestimator]

6. Cool, what instrument?

[MuseRider]

7. Clarinet.

I still play in our symphony. Do you still sing?

[Misunderestimator]

10. For my own amusement, yes...

I quit about 10 years ago. Gave up the starving artist life for security... :shrug:

[MuseRider]

13. I can certainly understand

that. We are a family of starving artists. Well, not really. My husband was a doctor in his real life before he retired early and started back in on music. Both of my boys are music majors....no help in our old age. Gotta love it, can't live without it. Nothing at all wrong with doing it for your own amusement, most people are in it totally for that reason since it is usually not terribly lucrative. :hi:

[tigereye]

8. I didn't know you were an opera singer, Mis.

that is really neat. The mother role was very interesting. The intriguing thing about opera to me would be the difficulty between expressing the lyric and the subtle emotional content. Seems like quite a challenge. I think the typical American's ears are not really trained to catch operatic sophistication - I should probably go to more. My son really liked the broader aspects of the play and the humor of the 3 kings... he also liked Cecelia Bartoli's expresssiveness when he was very little. :)

[Misunderestimator]

11. Yep...

for a little over 15 years professionally... Cute about your son's sophisticated taste. :)

[tigereye]

16. not sure it really had to do with sophistication

maybe the broad facial expressions were what were to his liking. :)

Plus we listen to all kinds of music, punk, classical, Renaissance,Tuvan throat singing, Phillip Glass and there is always music playing here.

[flyingfysh]

5. the perfect title for late Christmas shoppers

A Mall and the Night Visitors

[tigereye]

9. cute.

We always try to go to a Christmas concert - usually Ren and Baroque, classical or even the Jazz Nutcracker... just to remind ourselves that Christmas is not just about spending money.

[barb162]

12. It was too long ago to remember; I think I saw it

Saw Christmas Carole a few years ago and I can watch that one many, many times

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. I love playing this opera!

I wish I could play it every Christmas instead of Messiah overkill!

[tigereye]

17. actually G

I enjoyed the accompaniment and the chorus ( kids from our local performing arts high school- wonderfully diverse and talented group) a bit more than the principal singers. The musicians were from the youth orchestra here. Very impressive.

[Cheswick2.0]

18. I love Amahl

It has gorgeous music and a wonderful message.
My older brother sang Amahl for several years for an Opera Company in Binghampton NY. My mother directed a production of it. My father sang one of the Kings and my two older sisters were in the chorus.
I ran away from home (to hide in the car for several hours) because I couldn't be in it.

Several years ago I sang in the chorus for a production here in Scranton.

[tigereye]

20. the chorus in the production we saw was excellent

[Cheswick2.0]

19. Hansel and Gretel is also a lot of fun and has a really

beautiful duet in it.