A Christmas story with music by Gian Carlo Menotti (first performance in this country).
Chorus of shepherds and villagers and dancers
(Charles Vignoles appears by arrangement with the Governors of Canterbury Cathedral Choir School)
Amahl is a crippled little shepherd boy who lives with his mother, a poor widow.
Three Wise Men, on their way to Bethlehem, ask at Amahl's hut for shelter for the night. They are made welcome and Amahl and his mother wonder at the splendour of their clothes and the richness of the gifts they bear. These, they say, are destined for a newborn baby-at which Amahl's mother grows envious. Why, she argues, cannot some of these gifts be bestowed upon her own child. Her envy grows....