Choir tries its hand at fully staged opera.

Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

Opera fans feeling slighted by Eugene Opera's one-show season this year take heart: Eugene Concert Choir is stepping up to the plate.

For the first time, ECC is mounting its own fully staged opera, a production of Gian Carlo Menotti's Christmas classic "Amahl and the Night Visitors," in a single afternoon performance at the Hult Center this weekend.

"It is a beautiful work, and it is something I have been wanting to do for a long time," says ECC artistic director Diane Retallack, who will conduct the music and direct the show. "Things just seemed to come together for this performance."

Among its other distinctions, "Amahl" may be among the best operas for opera beginners - including children - to enjoy. It's in English, is just 45 minutes long and tells a heartwarming story of a poor family encountering the Three Kings on their way to the manger.

But it's also real music from a serious, living musician, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1950.

"Amahl" was commissioned by NBC television - it was the first opera ever written for TV - and was first broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1951. The show was such a hit that it became an annual television event for many years.

The Eugene production will feature 12-year-old Alex Mentzel in the title role.

"We got this amazing Amahl," Retallack said. "That is one of the most difficult things with this opera, to find a little boy who has a beautifully trained voice and is an intelligent and experienced actor. That all comes together here."

Sarah Mattox, a mezzo-soprano who took a first place in last year's Bella Voce competition held by Eugene Opera, sings Amahl's mother. Other singers include Neil Wilson, Andre Flynn and Paul Karaitis as the Three Kings.

Oregon Mozart Players will be in the orchestra pit and Dance Theatre of Oregon will dance.

This is Retallack's first venture into directing as well as conducting. But that doesn't mean staging a show, as opposed to a concert, is completely unfamiliar territory for her.

"I grew up in the tradition of Broadway musicals," she said. "I played child roles in musicals from age 6."

In any case, "Amahl" is a great place to start, for conductor and audience alike.

"It's opera for the whole family," Retallack said. "If people are not used to going to opera, this is a great one to introduce them."

In addition to "Amahl," the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble - a subset of the Eugene Concert Choir - will perform a program of Christmas carols.

OPERA PREVIEW Amahl and the Night Visitors What: Eugene Concert Choir stages Gian Carlo Menotti's short Christmas opera; also on the program is a selection of Christmas carols Where: Hult Center, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $11 to $29 (682-5000)