Electric Fishwrap

By KATE MARTIN

Skagit Valley Herald staff writer

It’s an inspirational story of love, boyish enthusiasm and the spirit of giving, said Ron Wohl, general director of Skagit Opera.

“Amahl is a little bit of a storyteller; he has a very vivid imagination,” Wohl said, “His mother gets a little bit upset about that.”

Michael Giles, 11, of Mount Vernon plays Amahl, a poor shepherd boy who uses a crutch to get around. Michael is full of spunk and enthusiasm, much like the boy he portrays. Michael said he has some difficulty with parts of the opera.

“The hardest part of my role is keeping the energy up and portraying the emotions you’re supposed to,” he said.

Michael and the woman who plays his mother, Beth Wallace, recently rehearsed scenes over and over to make sure Michael positioned himself just right, or used the right facial expressions.

A special challenge for Skagit Opera was finding talented boys for boy roles, said Erich Parse, stage director for “Amahl.”

Parse was familiar with Menotti’s music, having worked with him on “The Marriage of Figaro” during the 1991 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.

Menatti’s notes in the score for “Amahl” indicated he wanted a boy to play the role, not a woman with a soprano voice dressed as a boy.

As such, even finding a boy talented enough for the role was difficult. And there is no guarantee that the voice won’t change mid-production, Parse said.

“You never know when the voice is going to change,” Parse said. “Last year when we did this, (the boy who played Amahl) his voice was just on the edge of changing. … You can go from a boy’s soprano voice to going to no voice whatsoever literally overnight.”

But for now, Michael said he’s not thinking about when his voice changes.

“I think that it’s best to kind of enjoy it while it is and think about it after it’s happened,” he said. “I think I might just sing as a tenor in maybe a choir or something.”

Michael also has his skills in violin and clarinet to fall back on. He said he’s hoping for another two or three years of performing in boys’ roles as a soprano. Conrad Askland, who is working on a China opening for Cirque Du Soleil, told Michael he had about a year to four years before the big change.

But there’s no danger for this year’s Amahl. His moving duets with Wallace soar, and the miracle at the end caused by Amahl’s giving nature are a reminder to everyone what this season is really about.

For those who love opera — and those who love opera lovers — “Amahl and the Night Visitors” is a perfect mix between quality and quantity.

The show was broadcast on television in 1951 and was written especially for a one-hour time slot, in English for an American audience, Wohl explained.

The opera lover will enjoy the strong story line, the moving music and the charisma of the cast. The opera lover’s partner will relish that it’s less than an hour long.

Originally published Dec. 20, 2007.