Denver School of the Arts freshman John Healy plays the title role in Central City Opera’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors, directed by Kent Thompson. Photo by Kira Horvath.

Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director of the Theatre Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, is directing a special holiday staging of Amahl and the Night Visitors for Central City Opera. It will be presented on Dec. 4, 5 and 6 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 8817 S. Broadway, in Highlands Ranch.

Amahl and the Night Visitors is Carlo Menotti’s famous one-act opera set near Bethlehem just after the birth of Christ. It’s about a poor shepherd boy who likes to spin stories for his mother. Through their encounters with the “three kings’ and a magic star, Amahl and his mother learn how love and good deeds can work miracles.

Central City Opera has teamed up with Thompson and St. Luke’s music minister James Ramsey to present the one-hour story in English, with an orchestra. John Healy, a freshman at Denver School of the Arts who performed with Central City Opera in Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw in 2012, plays Amahl. Mezzo-soprano Valerie Nicolosi plays Amahl’s mother. Members of St. Luke’s church, orchestra and Performing Arts Academy will also perform.

Thompson’s next DCPA project is directing the world premiere of Benediction, opening Jan. 30. The play will complete the Kent Haruf Plainsong Trilogy that Thompson has premiered at the DCPA over the past decade.    

Amahl and the Night Visitors: Ticket information

• At St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 8817 S. Broadway, Highlands Ranch, 80129 (one half-mile south of C-470 and Broadway)
• 7:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday, Dec. 4-5
  2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6
• Family activities 30 minutes before each performance
• Tickets $25; $15 for students (ID required)
• Call 303-292-6700, or buy online at the Central City Opera box office or at the Central City Opera business offices, 400 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 530, in Denver. (Note: Central City subscribers receive a 20 percent discount.)

Valerie Nicolosi (Mother) and John Healy (Amahl) in Central City Opera’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors, directed by Kent Thompson. Photo by Kira Horvath.