LCHS Music department presents Amahl and the Night Visitors
The ‘must see’ Christmas story opens tonight at 7 p.m.

 

[November 19, 2022] 

Amahl and the Night Visitors opens tonight at Lincoln Community High School. The opera-style musical is being presented by the high school choral department and will feature alumni from past plays along with current LCHS music program students.

The curtain will open at 7 p.m. on a play with a Christmas miracle theme revolving around a poor widow and her crippled son who receive some very special guests in the late-night hours.



Amahl is a young boy who is to say the least a bit mischievous with a wild imagination. After turning in for the night, a knock comes on the door and after he answers, he hurries to report to his mother that there is a king waiting outside. She scolds him for telling tales and sends him back to the door again. He reports back that now there are two kings. Another scolding and another trip to the door reveals three kings.

The unbelieving mother goes to the door and finds that what Amahl has reported is correct. She lets the three kings and their page in. They are seeking a place to spend the night. While she welcomes them, she also explains that she is poor, and has no food to offer and not even a fire in the hearth. The kings are not dissuaded and come into the home to spend the night, along with their cache’ of gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Mother sends Amahl out to get all the shepherds in the fields with a message to come and bring with them all the food they have so the kings may eat.



Ahaml being young and curious also pelts the kings with questions about who they are, and where they are going.

He and his mother learn that the kings are seeking a child that they do not know except to say he is very special and will be the King of the world.









When the food arrives and the celebration ensues, the shepherds entertain the kings with dance, and they all make merry for a time.

When the crowd has gone and it is time to once again sleep, the mother gives the three kings her cot and sleeps on the floor herself. The kings’ page also sleeps on the floor close to the three men.

Knowing the gifts the kings carry for the child they do not know, the mother reasons with herself that her son is in need and surely the king carrying the gold would not miss a small handful.





She creeps across the room and grabs some gold, only to wake the page and a struggle ensues. Amahl wakes and goes to his mother’s defense and threatens to break all the bones of the page if he doesn’t let the mother go.



We’ll stop there for we don’t want to give away the entire plot. But, as the old saying goes all is well that ends well, and a Christmas miracle in addition to the birth of the Christ Child is the outcome.

As stated earlier, the play features past graduates from LCHS and current music students including:

• Laura Centers, class of 2019 as Ahaml

• Ruth Ohmart Hale, class of 2006 as the mother

• Current LCHS junior Kit Peters plays Casper

• Melchior is played by class of 2019 graduate Austin Garriott

• Balthazar is portrayed by Nikos Poulos, LCHS class of 2022

• LCHS senior Donovan Parrish plays the page in the play

• The shepherds are played by the current LCHS choir members.

The production team includes:

• Director Kim Peterson-Quinn

• Assistant Director Tom Quinn

• Accompanist Kay Dobson

• Clarinetist Becky Kunken

• Choreographer Elayna Swickard

• Lights and Sound - Brittney and Tom McLaughlin

• Spot Lights/Curtain - Kamryn Battin and Cadin Frawley/Mackenzie Plummer

• Set design and set up - Tom Steiner and Chuck McFadden

Kim Peterson-Quinn shared a very special note about the play in the program as a prelude to the opening curtain.

“This opera has a very special place in my heart. My first experience with Amahl was when I was about seven years old. My dad was doing this production at his high school where he was the choral director for over 30 years. My sister and I were shepherds, and we were so taken by the music and the story that at the tender age of five and seven, we memorized the entire opera and would perform it for anyone willing to listen (while quietly and lovingly giggling at these two little girls trying their best to sing “opera-like”).

“Cut to 14 years later and the university where my sister and I were attending announced that they were going to launch a production of Amahl. As luck would have it, I was cast as the mother and my sister was cast as Amahl!

“Cut to 20 years after that, and I was in another production of Amahl as the mother alongside Brittney Mclaughlin as Amahl, Dan Bailey as Balthazar, Andy Vandervort as Casper, and my dad as Melchior (in other news, my dad was once Casper while he attended Eastern Illinois University in the 1960’s). In this production which was performed at the Maple Club on the outskirts of town, the LCHS choir and my own children were the shepherds.

“As I near the end of my teaching career here at LCHS, it was on my teacher bucket -list to mount one more production, this time as the director and with former students, who have gone on to major or minor in music, in the leading roles. And so here we are. We are thrilled to be able to present this poignant opera to our Lincoln Community. It is one of the most beautiful expressions of the Christmas spirit I have ever encountered. Mr. Menotti has exquisitely combined music and lyrics to give us a magnificent piece of art that has lasted through the ages. So, with that, sit back and enjoy Amahl and the Night Visitors.”
 

While some may be intimidated by the word “opera” this is a wonderful play, heartwarming and touching. The music is lovely and the cast has done an excellent job of capturing the personalities of the characters they portray and making them come alive on stage.

We wish the LCHS choir and alumni all the best for their opening night.

The play will take place at the LCHS auditorium this evening (Saturday, November 18th) at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday (November 20th) afternoon at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at the door.

[Nila Smith]