Beware of the forest

A modern take on an old classic is a roaring success.

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12th July, 2008

First-time opera director Michael Hurst and the mightily experienced designer John Verryt are a convincing team in their strongly unified perception of Engelbert Humperdinck's operatic setting of the Grimms' fairy story Hansel and Gretel. It may not be quite the Black Forest tale of a wicked witch in a gingerbread house that Humperdinck and his librettist sister, Adelheid Wette, had in mind, but it's true to the Grimms' telling of a story that's as much for adults as it is for children. The fact that this is a touring production - it opened in Kerikeri, goes as far south as Invercargill ...

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