This christmas, I am singing in a few performances of Gian Carlo Menotti's mini-opera called "Amahl and the night visitors." It's a wonderful piece which I have always admired since I was a kid. I was raised by a single mother... and I really have always been fascinated with how the play dealt with a big transition in usa society. Philosophers would call this a transition from modernism to post-modernism. Children were being raised differently in the states. And this 1951 theatre piece points this change out. The plot revolves around a mother who doesn't understand that her child is growing up differently than how she was raised. He's growing up to be imaginative - footloose and fancy free. This really troubles the mother.
One of the frustrating things for me when watching this play has always been that those who sing this opera always leave the consonants off of the words. I suppose they want to use classical opera style. This means that I have never ever understood some of the most important phrases and sentences in the play. And furthermore, I have seen that you can't find the script posted anywhere. Theatre people tend to think that uptight playwrights would frown on this. I think only posting the words on the internet, accompanied by my own narration, constitutes fair use.
So here it is. I hope many people will stumble upon this page and learn the words - before they go to their showing of this classic play this christmas.