Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412030013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The two boys share the title role in Opera Roanoke's production of Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," which runs tonight and tomorrow night at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church.
Scott says his fourth-grade classmates at Christiansburg Elementary School spotted the main perk right away.
"They say I'm lucky that I get to get out of school," said the boy treble, who will sing the role tonight.
David, who plays Amahl on Saturday night, thinks his shepherd costume is neat. "It's kinda like baggy pants with a baggy shirt with a cloak, and a crutch - it's pretty cool," said the Blacksburg Middle School sixth-grader.
Opera Roanoke General Director Craig Fields says he was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the boys lost their initial nervousness. "Now they're up there onstage cracking up the other actors. I have to tell them to concentrate and stay in character," said Fields with a chuckle.
"Amahl and the Night Visitors" is that rarest of commodities, an opera that's widely known and loved by the general public. This may be due to the fact that it was the first opera ever written specifically for television, with the premiere NBC broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1951.
Menotti worked with TV's now-familiar requirements in mind: Not only did the show have to fit within an hourlong broadcast, but there had to be room for commercials, which accounts for its short running time (for an opera) of 50 minutes. The original 1951 cast recording is still available on an RCA compact disc.
Both the music and the libretto were composed by Menotti, who was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting, "The Adoration of the Magi." The plot decribes the reception of the Three Wise Men - on their way to worship the baby Jesus - by a little crippled boy and his mother, and the miracle that accompanies their visit.
The opera became an instant Christmas classic, spawning countless professional and amateur productions all over the world and yearly rebroadcasts of the original 1951 show.
It also joined a select group of 20th-century classical works that are simultaneously beloved by audiences yet regarded condescendingly by critics. Menotti wrote in an accessible and traditional melodic idiom that sounded distinctly reactionary four decades ago.
"When you consider what was going on musically in 1950, it seemed like a very tame, very quasi-commercial type of music. You have to remember that's when Milton Babbitt and John Cage and Pierre Boulez were all starting their experiments in the avante-garde," said Fields.
And yet, he added, some of those then-trendy avant-garde works now ironically have a musty air about them - while Menotti's unprepossessing opera retains an engaging freshness.
"I don't think we'll be hearing John Cage's music for as long as we'll be hearing Menotti's music. It's one of those pieces when the story, the mood, the words and the music all come together. It's a little jewel of a piece - simple, straightforward and very effective," said Fields.
The Opera Roanoke production will use a stripped-down instrumental complement of piano, synthesizer, oboe and percussion, conducted from the piano by James Bryant.
Soprano Rita Litchfield-Good sings the role of Amahl's mother. Tenor Gary Fulsebakke, baritone Allen Huszti and bass Wayne Kompelien are the Three Wise Men, with baritone Michael Drew Dowdy as the Page. The major singers are accompanied by an opera chorus of villagers and shepherds.
With only a two-night run, why is Opera Roanoke using two different Amahl actors? With cold and flu season here, Fields wanted to play it safe.
"From my own opera experience I know that if one of your adult singers gets sick, you can make a phone call and in 24 hours you've got a replacement.
"But you can't do that with kids if they get sick - children just don't adapt that quickly. You just don't have the luxury of being able to replace them at the last minute."
However, both David Rhinesmith and Scott Call were in good shape as of mid-week and looking forward to their opera debuts. Scott is already a stage veteran with a role in the current Mill Mountain Theatre production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat."
"I'm not really scared. I've done other plays and I'm just not really shy with a crowd," said Scott, who's not ruling out a career in music. "If I'm not a musician, I'll probably be either a writer or a veterinarian."
Besides polishing his "Amahl" role, Scott plays basketball, baseball, soccer and the piano.
David, who figures he'll be either a singer or an electrical engineer, says he had his part memorized by late September and has managed to fit his music into a busy after-school schedule that includes racing on a swimming team. David says he listens to Christian rock groups such as Carman, Petra and singer Amy Grant.
Tickets are still available for both performances at $12 for adults and $6 for children. A dinner precedes each performance, and details on a special dinner-and-opera package are available at 344-6225.
by CNB