Amahl is the most performed of Menotti's 25 operas. Menotti famously quoted, “This is an opera for children because it tries to recapture childhood.” It is the first American opera commissioned and composed specifically for television when it was commissioned by NBC and performed on Christmas Eve in 1951, in New York City, where it was broadcast live around the world. The opera tells the Christmas story from the view of a widow and her crippled son, living in poverty, and the miraculous visit to their home of the three kings, who are following the star towards Bethlehem.