Review of Amahl and the Night Visitors

This is available for viewing at the Paley Center for Media. I watched it today and liked it quite a bit. I actually liked it better than the 1951, 1952 and 1955 broadcasts (all of which I own). At first I thought the actor playing Amahl seemed too old, but he grew on me. The actress playing the mother was excellent. I've always thought the most moving part of this opera was when Amahl falls into his mother's arms after the "Don't you dare". This one was particularly moving and I really found myself tearing up. Too bad this one was not available on home video. But apparently Menotti was not pleased with it --it was probably more of an ego thing since this was directed by Kirk Browning just like all the other telecasts.