Hansel and Gretel Returns to TDO

By Magda Krance

Hansel and Gretel is a delectable confection of an opera. Musically and dramatically, it’s blended to perfection, resulting in a thoroughly satisfying feast for the senses, heart, and soul. It’s genuinely funny, just scary enough, and deeply moving in equal measure. Best of all, Hansel and Gretel can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. There truly is something for everyone here, in the best possible way.

The lushly majestic opening phrases assure you that all will be well in the performance journey that lies ahead, no matter what you’ve read about hungry children lost in the woods, ensnared by a crafty witch who wants to fatten them up for dinner, oh my! While some overtures lay out an opera’s themes in sequence, this one starts with the lost children’s prayer melody that closes Act One, which recurs as the daybreak music that opens Act Two. It then blossoms and bounces with sprightly and soaring leitmotifs from other scenes and characters before circling back to a quiet, luminous close.

Hansel and Gretel is the wondrous creation of composer Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) and his sister Adelheid Wette (1858-1916), an author, folklorist, and composer. She wrote plays for her children to perform at family gatherings; in 1890 she asked

Engelbert to compose songs for verse scenes she’d written for her version of Hansel and Gretel. They eventually expanded their parlor entertainment into a fully scored opera that premiered to immediate acclaim in Weimar, Germany, on Dec. 23, 1893—conducted by composer Richard Strauss, no less. The following year composer Gustav Mahler led the next performances in Hamburg, and from there Hansel and Gretel’s popularity spread internationally, reaching the U.S. in 1895 and Australia in 1907. It’s been recorded, filmed, and televised extensively, and performed live in a variety of settings and productions.

Adelheid and Engelbert’s source material came from another pair of famous siblings. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (17861859), grew up in extreme poverty following their father’s death. They became avid collectors of German folklore and scholars seeking, in part, to preserve regional culture from French influences during the Napoleonic Wars. Early editions of their Children’s and Household Tales were heavily footnoted, unillustrated tomes full of grisly tales reflecting the extreme hardships of life in medieval times. Many of these came from the Grimms’ neighbor, Henriette Dorothea Wild, who eventually married Wilhelm. The Grimms revised and romanticized the 200+ stories they published between 1812 and 1857, which eventually became known as Grimms’ Fairytales. These include the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, and others, which have been translated into more than 100 languages and modified into animated feature films suitable for all ages.

Wette softened the Grimms’ story, making the Hansel and Gretel libretto more suitable for youngsters by adding the gently protective figures of the Sandman, the Dew Fairy, and the guardian angels (who take fanciful form in this production). She also added the happy liberation of the other wayward children who’d been turned into gingerbread by the witch. Humperdinck had studied and taught abroad and at home, served as Richard Wagner’s assistant on Parsifal at Bayreuth, and composed choral and orchestral music early on in his career. In its evocative music, Hansel and Gretel reveals his grasp of children’s thinking and behavior with insightful vocal writing, sophisticated orchestration, and rich harmonies. His first opera proved to be an instant and perennial hit, and the one work for which he is known. None of his subsequent operas captured the public’s imagination like Hansel and Gretel, in which he and his sister struck the perfect balance of scary and reassuring.

Historically, women sing both children’s roles. In these performances the rising stars countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim and soprano Elena Villalón portray Hansel and Gretel respectively. Internationally acclaimed soprano Patricia Racette makes a welcome return to Dallas in her role debuts as both The Mother and the gleefully gluttonous witch, Rosina Leckermaul (a.k.a. Raisin Sweet Tooth). Baritone Mark Delavan, last seen in TDO’s 2018/2019 production of Falstaff, is The Father. Mezzo-soprano Lindsay Metzger is the Sandman and Gabrielle Gilliam is the Dew Fairy.

Music director Emmanuel Villaume conducts the LA Opera production directed and designed by Doug Fitch, with lighting designed by Duane Schuler. This marks the first time Hansel and Gretel will be performed in English (with supertitles) at the company, in superb translation and adaptation created for this production by Richard Sparks.

“Hansel and Gretel has not been seen on the Dallas Opera stage in two decades, and this new-to-Dallas production is truly spectacular,” says Ian Derrer, The Dallas Opera’s Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO. “It is fanciful and heartwarming–and the visual splendor will enchant a whole new generation.”

Magda Krance is the former Director of Media Relations for Lyric Opera of Chicago. As a freelance journalist, she covered a variety of subjects for several national magazines and newspapers. including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Spy. She now serves on the boards of two music organizations.