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HANSEL & GRETEL
Presented and filmed at DR. PHILLIPS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS | ALEXIS & JIM PUGH THEATER
FRIDAY | January 29 at 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY | January 30 at 2 p.m.
SATURDAY | January 30 at 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY | January 31 at 2 p.m.
Music by Englebert Humperdinck with a libretto by Adelheid Wette
English translation by Constance Bache
Sung in English with English supertitles.
Estimated run time is 75 minutes with no intermission.
Age Advisory - G
Grab the family and enjoy the remount of Opera Orlando’s confectionery treat, Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel from the comfort of your own home and on any device that has access to YouTube! This is a cinematic recording filmed on three cameras offering a completely different experience from the live performance. Sung in English and reduced to a kid-friendly 75 minutes, this retelling of the Grimm fairy tale features a lush score, charming characters, and a delightfully villainous witch you won’t want to miss. The cast features soprano Kyaunnee Richardson as the plucky and adorable Gretel with mezzo-soprano Gloria Palermo as her headstrong but lovable brother Hansel. Mezzo-soprano Robyn Rocklein is the witch and creepy purveyor of cookies, candies, and cakes. Opera Orlando’s education director Robin Jensen conducts, and artistic director Grant Preisser directs, with musicians from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Opera Orlando Youth Company.
CAST
PRODUCTION TEAM
SYNOPSIS
Once upon a time in the Black Forest …
Hansel and Gretel are busy at home, playing when they should be doing their chores. Dancing and singing, they are surprised by their Mother, who is angry that they haven’t gotten any work done. At her wit’s end, she kicks the children out to gather strawberries in the woods, the only food they will have for dinner that night. As the children narrowly escape their Mother’s wrath, their Father returns home. He brings food and treats that he bought from selling his brooms. In a celebratory mood, he asks where the children have gone, and Mother tells him that she has sent them into the woods. Terrified for them, he tells Mother of the Witch who haunts the forest. Now rightly worried for their children, they head into the woods to find Hansel and Gretel.
Deep in the woods and having gathered a good number of strawberries, Hansel and Gretel can’t fight their hunger any more and eat everything they have collected. Full, sleepy, and nervous about going home, the children realize they have lost their way. As it gets darker, they get more and more frightened by the forest, until the Sandman takes pity on them and enchants them so that they go to sleep.
The next morning the Dew Fairy comes to wake the children, who find themselves in front of the most fantastic gingerbread house they could have ever imagined. Greedy for the candy and treats, they eagerly start to eat the house, unaware that it is where the Witch lives. The Witch takes them by surprise, putting a spell on them and trapping them so she can fattened them up. Ready to put them both in the oven, the Witch enlists Gretel’s help. However, Gretel has other plans and instead pushes the Witch in the oven, rescuing herself and her brother. Mother and Father finally find Hansel and Gretel, and the family is happy to be reunited.
Did someone say cookies?
Individually wrapped cookies provided by Insomnia Cookies in the lobby following each performance. Yum!
