Okay, I admit it. I’m a crybaby, and I don’t care who knows it. And not only do I cry when and where it’s expected, but even when it’s not. Case in point: earlier tonight I was watching one of my favorite Youtube videos: a delicious duet with Andy Williams and Pearl Bailey called “The Simple Life” that is so beautiful and fun and not the least bit sad or poignant. But there’s just something about their easy mastery and irresistible charm that just gets to me, somehow, and by the final measures, as always, I had tears rolling down my cheeks.
Then again, I’ve had tears rolling down my cheeks, drenching my shirt, and dampening my slacks – courtesy of a certain opera by Gian Carlo Menotti called “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” This beloved Christmas opera is being per- formed twice this weekend as a benefit for the Southeast Wisconsin Performing Arts group- and I was brought in a little over a week ago as the emergency substitute pianist. I did have to think it over briefly, since I am off from Carthage this January and was really looking forward to some bona fide time off after an exceptionally busy Christmas holiday – plus I’m spending a lot of time helping my wife with the play she’s preparing for the Racine Theater Guild – plus I had tickets for a Renee Fleming/ Dimitri Hvorostovsky gala concert at the Lyric Opera of Chicago Saturday night. But in the end, I could not resist the chance to ride in as the hero (they were in truly desperate straits) – nor bring myself to miss out on a chance to be part of this wonderful opera.
This is a work that is as precious to me as any other, partly because it’s the very first opera with which I had any sort of meaningful encounter. During my childhood in the 1960’s, it was telecast on NBC right around Christmas, year after year – and watching this was a very important holiday tradition for my family. Years later, when I had my first opportunity to perform in this opera as one of the Three Kings, it was the oddest sensation I’d ever had as a musician, as though I were stepping back into my own childhood. And with every subsequent encounter with “Amahl,” whether performing as one of the Kings, accompanying on the piano, sitting in the audience, or watching it on DVD, I find myself falling under its spell all over again. And when we get to certain moments in the opera, I am an emotional goner, a pathetic basket case. Which is fine when you’re in the audience- where half the crowd at least is likely to be sniffling right along with you – but when you’re playing for the opera right up front, visible to everyone, it can be a little bit embarrassing. I can try to focus my mind on vexing questions like Rodgers vs. Favre or Big Mac vs. Whoppers . . . but when it comes to the most emotionally charged moments, neither thoughts of football nor fast food can keep me from blubbering like a baby at some very inopportune moments. . .
(A still from the 1955 telecast of “Amahl & the Night Visitors, available on a VAI DVD.)
Fortunately, the moment in the opera where I am most helpless to fend off the tears is also a moment when there is basically nothing for me to play. It’s right after the villagers have come to pay their respects to the Kings and are in the midst of their good bye’s. In that commotion, Amahl steps over to the most talkative and friendly of the Three Kings, and quietly asks him “excuse me, among your magic stones, would there. . . would there be one that would cure a crippled boy?” And this particular King, who happens to be terribly deaf, replies “Eh?” And Amahl, looking sad and defeated for the first time, quietly sings “Never mind. Good night” and walks away. It’s the only time in the whole opera that Amahl makes any reference whatsoever to his disability and it is so heartbreaking to see the young boy reach out hopefully and expectantly for help and taste such painful disappointment. But I’m already crying as Amahl is first approaching the King, before he’s even sung his question. And it’s never been more moving than it is in this particular production, thanks to Nathan Engstrom, the young man portraying Amahl so beautifully and moving. Nathan is a very vigorous young man off the stage – one of those well rounded boys who’s not only a lovely singer but a good baseball and soccer player as well – and that natural vibrancy makes him such a compelling Amahl. But oh…the tears that will be shed in this moment, and at the end of of the opera when he bids farewell to his mother before heading off to Bethlehem with the Kings. As much as anything, this opera is about love between mother and child- and hope even in the face of abject poverty. And aren’t all of us hungry for love? Hungry for hope? You will receive them both in this beautiful production- and I for one am honored to be part of it.
Amahl and the Night Visitors is performed tonight at 7 and tomorrow afternoon at 3 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in downtown Racine. All proceeds benefit the Southeast Wisconsin Performing Arts group, and their Opera A la Carte program, which creates operatic performance opportunities for young people throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
pictured above: Amahl (Nathan Engstrom) is hugged by his Mother (Erin Sura) before he sets off on his journey to Bethlehem with the Three Kings.
Very sweet! I also have to work to “keep my head” when Amahl sings goodbye to his Mother and says of his crutch, “you can tie it on my back.” and O, Mother let me go with the Kings, I want to take the crutch to the child myself.”
I have only done one of my four Amahls without you as either King (2X) or accompanist (once). I can hardly imagine doing this opera without your faithful and gentle heart as part of the production in some capacity. You believe in this music and its power to convey deep and profound truth. I love that about you and how that impacts your performances. Thanks, again, Greg!
I bet that’s not easy.
It was my pleasure and privilege, Jim!