Throughout the decade of the 1950’s, Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors was a beloved Christmas television tradition. The role of Amahl in the first NBC Opera Theatre performance was performed in 1951 by Chet Allen, a member of the Columbus Boychoir, and indeed the composer wrote his opera with the Columbus Boychoir sound in mind. The 1955 live telecast, the second telecast, with Bill McIver, Class of 1956, as Amahl continues the beautiful tradition.
 
Amahl was the first opera to be commissioned for television, and the first to fully exploit the potential of the new medium.  With a libretto (in English) of great lyrical beauty, penned by the composer himself, and a cast of superb singing actors, Amahl magnificently achieves the goal of NBC Opera Theatre’s founders, which was “to bring sincerity and realism to opera.” 
 
The work, tailored by Menotti for children, was for many an eye-opening introduction into the world of opera as musical theater.  It remains a delightful, inspirational, and ultimately deeply moving experience.
 
Since Amahl and the Night Visitors runs about forty-five minutes, the hour-long release telecast was filled with memorable performances of Christmas carols by the Columbus Boychoir.