On May 2, 1937, excerpts from the Menotti opera, performed by the original cast with Levin conducting, were broadcast by CBS Radio as part of National Music Week in the United States.
Menotti himself directed a production in the original Italian at the Juilliard School Opera Center in New York[5] and a special performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the work's premiere at the Philadelphia Academy of Music by the Curtis Institute.
[6] Amelia al ballo is still periodically performed, with productions in the 2008/2009 seasons in Vichy, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo, as well as a 2010 double bill with Menotti's The Telephone in Tours, using the 2006 co-production by Lausanne Opera and the Opéra Comique.
The full version of the score is orchestrated for three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, percussion, celeste, xylophone, harp and strings.
[9] The score was described by the Time magazine critic who attended the world premiere as "full of glowing, facetious music admirably suited to the story",[10] and by the New York World-Telegram as "delightful", "vivacious" and "tuneful" in a review of its first performance at the Met.
[11] However, following a performance of Amelia Goes to the Ball in Birmingham, England, in 1989, Jan Smaczny writing for Opera described it as a "breath-takingly banal" combination of "blunt pastiche" and "overripe verismo lyricism".