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Show Left to right : Traveling kings Barry Bounous, Marvin Alexander and Alvie Carter take gifts to Bethlehem in "Amahl and the Night Visitors" in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake staging of 'Amahl' is undiluted opera, says director Opera singers also can act. That's what Alex Nibley, director, and Mark E. Howarth, music director, direc-tor, hope to prove with their version of Gian-Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors." The production runs at the Little Bowery at the Promised Valley Theatre in Salt Lake City through Dec. 21. ( "'Amahl' is an opera, "v said Nibley. "We haven't changed anything, and we're not apologizing for it being an opera by watering it down, adding lines or making it into a musical. t "These are real, live opera singers. I think the audiertce will be surprised by an opera." "Amahl" is a tender, humorous story of a crippled shepherd boy and his widowed mother, who offer . hospitality to the three kings as they pass through on their way to Bethlehem with gifts for the Christ Child. i Amahl presents the kings with a simple gift to take to Jesus and receives a miraculous gift in return. Originally commissioned by NBC , as a one-act television opera, , 'Amahl' was first broadcast on' Christmas Eve 1951 and ran each-year each-year on that date for the next 13 , years. "I suspect our version is not quite as sweet, as cute, as other versions," ver-sions," Nibley said. "In order to- show the real triumph of the human spirit, you have to contrast it with something. People generally overlook or downplay (such aspects as) what it means to be a wise king searching for "a savior, what it means to be an impoverished mother raising a crippled child." By necessity, the production in the 100-seat theater also will be a more intimate performance of the show than usual. "Ordinarily, a boy soprano has trouble competing with the mother and the kings, and the audience has to keep adjusting their ear&back and forth. We won't have (. Jht .problem in the Little Bowery," Nibley has double-cast the role of si Amahl. Michael Affleck and Charles Hamilton will perform on alternate nights in the lead role. "At first I was worried about having two actors in the same role, but my worries : were completely unfounded," he said ; "They do their own interpretations interpreta-tions of the character without competing com-peting with each other." .' Megan McCormick designed the '-, lighting and Nibley created the set. Tom Cooley is stage manager. The show plays Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 21. A 2 p.m. matinee is scheduled for Dec. 21. Tickets are available at the box office of-fice or by calling 364-5677. |