The songs were, to be honest, something of a challenge for the younger children in the audience, even if (as was probably the case) they knew and loved them very well as poems. The excellent printed program gave us the background to their creation by Liza Lehmann in the 1890s, and the fact that some of these adaptations were very highly regarded by Benjamin Britten.
Menotti was very particular about the opera needing a boy soprano in the title role of his opera, but in this production we have a female lead, who handled the part excellently. The opera was accompanied by piano and flute with a simple and elegant score, which worked very nicely in the space of the church. The full length of the nave was used by the performance, and it was noticeable too how subtly and cleverly the lighting was handled, expressing the mood of the pieces or illustrating the approach of night.As a single-act piece of just 45 minutes, Amahl is sometimes thought of as a relatively gentle way of introducing children to the world of opera. But it is a mid-20th century piece, and that means occasional complexity and dissonance, and virtually no naturalistic speech, which can make the story difficult to follow: while the spectacle of the opera clearly interested children, some were a bit bewildered by just what was going on!
So although the evening billed itself as entertainment for the whole family, it was perhaps quite an ambitious presentation. There can be no argument though, about the excellence and highly-trained proficiency of the singing and of the theatre - Opera Anywhere, a very interesting collective of highly experienced performers again claimed mastery of a fine venue.