“Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be presented Friday, Dec. 4 at 8:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in the College Auditorium. The Texarkana Civic Music Association-College Series co-sponsors. Gian-Carlo Menotti will be performed entirely in English.
Box office will open an hour before curtain time for both performances. Admission for students and faculty is 50 cents and $1 for adults.
Production staff is composed of and includes Jim Clements, director; Mrs. Nancy Kay, stage director; Mrs. Sue McCrossen is music director; Mrs. Joy Arnold, is dance director; Mike Landrum is business manager; Mike Fromm is the First Shepherd; Miss Judy Smith is the Second Shepherd; and Miss Margaret McFarland is student director.
Cast members are Sammy Powers as Amahl; Billy Joe Gold as Amahl’s mother; Randy Walker as King Kaspar; Mike Walker as King Melchior; Mike Mahan as King Balthazar; and John Wayne Te Roy as the Page. Mike Fromm, Mike Mahan and Terry Fry.
Mike Wands is stage manager and the play is directed by Rolfe Wylie and Mrs. Kay.
Orchestra members are Ray Appleman, Richard Oglesby, Bob Jones, Miss Judy Smith, Alvin Morgan, Jim Mosley, James Wesson, Gary Brown and Alvin Dan and Janiece Snow are assistant technicians.
William Bartheld, art instructor, is in charge of the set; Miss Bloom, Alvin Morgan and Gary Funderburk are painting the sets.
Make-up artists are Sherry Lynn Phillips and Rita Dodson. Hodges and Teryan Cook.
Thirty colorful costumes in plush fabrics of gold, red, and blue, in flowing shapes have been designed and sewn by Mrs. Sue McDonald, Mrs. Robert Phillips Hodgson and Nancy Kay.
The dramatic action of the play concerns the visit of the three Kings and Amahl, a crippled shepherd boy, living with his widowed mother in an impoverished home.
Amahl is gazing through the window at a golden star when three Kings seek shelter for the night and his mother is led to bed, and Amahl is left to guard the visitors as the Three Wise Men enter their home.
The 26-member chorus, composed of shepherds and shepherdesses, will play an important role in the musical because they represent the outside world to Amahl’s mother and the Kings.
In following the Three Wise Men and the shepherds, the people bring gifts to the Christ Child and praise the Kings.
In following the Kings, Amahl also wishes to furnish the Christ Child with a gift and as he takes up his crutch as his gift, he takes his first step without its aid. The shepherdess then join the carols furnished by Christ. The only English opera written for television, “Amahl” has won the hearts of millions since it was first sung for the Christ Child.