Hansel and Gretel
Classical
Beware of the forest
by Rod Biss
A modern take on an old classic is a roaring success.
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 and in all visits 15 centres – has limited nothing. In fact, it has spurred Hurst and Verryt to feats of imaginative storytelling and interpretation.
Before the curtain even rises, as Humperdinck’s deceptively smiling overture plays, there is a red-tinged projection on the curtain of tangled branches stripped of their leaves – this is a forest to beware of, it seems. Verryt’s set consists of a steeply raked stage that narrows towards the top and leads the eye towards his backdrops; most often the ragged leafy forest whose mood can change ominously according to David Eversfield’s rich and resourceful lighting.
But the curtain goes up and there are Hansel and Gretel singing merrily away; they’re hungry and yet Gretel attempts to teach Hansel a dance. At this point, you might justifiably think that Humperdinck’s confection is all a bit too sugary for modern consumption. But the children’s mother appears and in a memorable first line, which I’m sure is not a strict translation, says: “What the hell are you doing?” The children are chased out of the way and the mother tells us of her terrible hardship.
Hurst, rather than Humperdinck, is in control from here on. We may laugh at the mother, but we certainly also sympathise. Her poverty and exhaustion seem all too contemporary and when her husband staggers on stage drunk it just completes the scene.
The second half of the opera is more fantastic: the witch appears but is outwitted by the children, the parents reappear, and of course everyone lives happily ever after. Hurst is more prepared to play it for the thrilling, funny and totally theatrical fairy story that it is, though purging it, in a very clever and successful way, of any references to gingerbread houses.
On opening night, the superb singing of the entire small cast could not have been bettered anywhere. Ana James’ beautifully sung Gretel was a resourceful caring teenager; Anna Pierard was a rich-voiced Hansel, gawky but loving. Together, their voices complemented each other as perfectly as their projected characters.
Helen Medlyn was an imperious mother with a frightening black wig that towered over both her and the children. In act two, significantly, she also took on the part of the fiendish witch, a role she sang, played and danced with such versatile relish that we almost forgot to be frightened by her; but inevitably we watched, wondered, and never quite knew whether this could actually be the same person.
The father was sung by James Harrison. His baritone voice is now polished and projects well. Maybe his character’s drunkenness in act one was too comic just when real angst was called for, but this was a first night. The Sandman and Dew Fairy were played in Kerikeri by Barbara Graham, a young light soprano of considerable promise. (Alternate performances will be sung by Barbara Paterson.)
Michael Vinten’s tactfully slimmed-down orchestral score for just 16 players managed to convey much of the richness of Humperdinck’s Wagnerian original. Although there were moments when the sheer weight of the score was missed, the reward was a new chamber music clarity of many woodwind lines. Tecwyn Evans conducted a performance that flowed and cared for the vocal lines. (Michael Vinten takes over conducting for the last four performances.)
This totally home-grown production is New Zealand Opera caring for its future in a most exciting and enjoyable way. The performance in Kerikeri was sold out, so grab your tickets in a town near you while you still can.
HANSEL AND GRETEL, New Zealand Opera, touring until August 13.
