The Three Kings pay a visit to Little Rock when UALR Opera Theatre presents Gian-Carlo Menotti’s beloved Christmas Opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” Dec. 4, 5, and 6 in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at UALR.A special premiere performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, will benefit a UALR endowment honoring Mary Worthen, a longtime supporter of UALR. Tickets are $50, including a champagne reception following the performance.

“Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be presented at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5 and 6. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $5 for children and students. UALR students are admitted free with prior reservations.

For ticket information, call the UALR Music Box Office, at 501-569-8993.
Menotti’s opera premiered Christmas Eve 1951 on NBC. It became an instant holiday classic, with the most number of annual performances of any opera in America.

The familiar opera relates the story of a poor crippled boy whose life is miraculously changed when the Three Kings visit his village on their quest for the Christ child. Menotti chose this subject because of his boyhood experiences in Italy, where traditionally children wait for gifts brought by the Three Kings, not Santa Claus.

UALR Opera Theatre’s cast features Memory Apata and Laura Johnson alternating in the role of Amahl, Regina Gallucci and Satia Spencer as his mother, and Luke Angelo, Jeremy Kinchen and Phillip Murray as the Three Kings. Kevin Ezell sings the role of their page. Edward Crafts directs, and Dr. Bevan Keating conducts the soloists, chorus, and chamber orchestra.