Customer Reviews

Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm all for a dark take on Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel." This is, after all, a tale with child abuse and cannibalism at its core, topics of which the Brothers Grimm had no difficulty writing, in both figurative and metaphorical terms. In this grotesque production, however, director Richard Jones doesn't simply touch on these themes, he molests them. Among his subtle directorial touches are the following: on hearing about the Witch, Mom vomits large chunks of food in full view of the audience; said Witch force feeds Hansel by sticking a tube and funnel down his throat; after the Witch is pushed into the oven (she's gassed, get it?), Gretel smears some chocolate on Hansel's upper lip, making him appear like Adolf Hitler. Excuse me, this is the Met's annual holiday opera for children? What's next, "Wozzeck" in a new translation by Martin McDonough?

Maybe Jones believes that, with the proliferation and popularity of violent video games, children's tastes have changed, that they crave more graphic and grotesque forms of entertainment. Perhaps. But do we, as adults, have to give it to them? Can we not endeavor to preserve and/or foster a sense of magic and wonderment in our children? Isn't there a balance between exposing them to the "real" world and encouraging imagination and flights of fancy? Jones is all for the former, but is far less successful at (and seems less interested in) the latter. Imagine a version of "The Nutcracker" in which Clara is raped by The Mouse King, or the ethnic dancers are ragged, starving street urchins who knife one another for sugarplums. That's the kind of production this is.

For the most part, the roles are superbly realized and sung. The exceptions are a dull Philip Langridge, whose performance as the Witch is as flabby as his prosthetic arms, and a dour and screechy Rosiland Plowright, decked out, for some reason, as a cross between "AbFab's" Patsy on a bender and Michael Caine in "Dressed to Kill." Thankfully, conductor Vladimir Jurowski has an expert handle on the intricate beauty of the lush, transcendent score, even if his stage director does not.

If you want a story about nasty children with nasty parents who have nasty things happen to them, perhaps this is the "Hansel and Gretel" for you. (Or maybe you should check out Ravel's "L'Enfant et les Sortileges.") But if you're looking for a production that charms, delights and reinforces your faith in humanity and the triumph of good over evil...look elsewhere.

I too saw this mess of a production. I had to put my two sense in and say something. I remember seeing this monstrosity when it aired on PBS and was horrified at what I saw. Pigs instead of angels? Now really, this was going a bit too far. I personally have the 1982 version of the Metropolitan opera . It was a stupendous production. But this was a disaster... The music and performances were top notch. but the plot and characterizations with pig faces . It is apparent what the Grimm brothers were expressing in their story but this was going too far... imaginative, innovative, i think not a mess is what I call it... and that is being nice... If you want a wonderful production of the treasure "Hansel and Gretel" choose the 1982 production. It is a sumptuous delight for adults and children....

I took my 7 year old daughter to see this at the Met. I can honestly tell you that this was the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed, disgusting to the point that my daughter nearly became ill. I can honestly tell you that most of the people leaving the opera house at Lincoln center were also flabbergasted and nauseated by this bizarre production of a classic. If you enjoy watching people throwing up, and little children eating burnt corpses then by all means buy this, this is for you. But if you wish to see a production meant for young children, then run for your life from this one. Your youngsters will need a long chat with a psychiatrist after seeing this, as certainly does the creator of this horror show. The only redeeming quality was the superb music, other than that, forget it! By the way, a prominent critic said of this production that this wasn't "Hansel and Gretel," but more like "Hambone and Gristle!" I totally concur! There is nothing wrong with a little tradition when something is meant for children, I can get the other stuff from B horror movies if I so choose and I don't have to pay $100.00 dollars a ticket. Buying the DVD would only add insult to injury!

I loved everything about this production: first, Vladimir Jurowski's excellent conducting. The cast is uniformly good, but one should mention Philip Langridge in the role of the Witch. He is really outstanding. I don't know why former reviews were irritated by the production. I think it is a funny, original, and brings many insights to the score.

Recommended.

I'd like to be able to say that I was absolutely enchanted by this production. I've enjoyed modern stagings and seen updates of familiar pieces that really worked. This one doesn't.
Richard Jones's familiar staging (it's been seen in many cities by now) has some interesting ideas, but doesn't add up to anything worth remembering. The singers do their best and they seem to be having a good time (except for Philip Langridge who seems ill-at-ease as the Witch), but the conceits in which Jones indulges are tired by now and have little to do with Humperdinck's opera. Alice Coote and Christine Schafer sing well although their diction is poor (not that David Poutney's very British translation is very good anyway). Alan Held does well as the Father, but why was Rosalind Plowright brought over to do the Mother? The Met has plenty of antiquated mezzos to wobble through this role. In any case, it's not her fault that the director has such a dim view of her and Held's characters. The production itself has some fascinating moments. I love the idea of setting the three acts each in a different kitchen. The Second Act Dream Pantomime is a lot of fun with it pig-like waitors and fish butler and all of the food in the last act does make one's mouth water. But overall one comes away from this performance wanting to take a bath to clean off the mean-spiritedness of so much of the direction. I'd like to recommend the older Met DVD with Blegen and Von Stade, but it's not available at the moment

When this Richard Jones staging of Hansel and Gretel first appeared it took a little getting used to. After all, missing was the mysterious forest, the enticing gingerbread house and the fourteen angels that watch over our vulnerable protagonists.
What replaces these conventions are weird and mysterious images that hew true to the story's sweet sense of adventure yet still remain beautiful within their own aesthetic.
The casting for this production was cleverly effected. Did the Met intentionally cast singers in the adult roles who are all over six feet tall? Whether intended or not, this serves the story well as all the singers inhabit their roles with assurance and a real sense of character.
Christine Schafer and Alice Coote used the long rehearsal period that a new production affords to really gel as a team. Working with director Jones, each one brings a fully conceived character to the fore; Schafer's proud impetuous Gretel is well contrasted to Coote's plucky impish Hansel.
As the two parents, Rosalind Plowright and Alan Held perform very well indeed. My complaint about them has more to do with how director Jones views their characters. In my mind, Peter is a sweet dopey broom merchant, certainly not a wife beater and Gertrude is not the chemically dependent, despondent mess that we have here. By limning their characters thusly, the director brings their concern for the children as well as the ultimate happy ending into doubt.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this production is the realization of the witch by the inestimable Philip Langridge. Imagine Julia Child run amok with a dash of the Marx Brothers and you might get an idea of what this delicious performance by Mr. Langridge is like. Consummately sung and acted, this is a wonderful performance of comic villainy, Margaret Hamilton would be proud.
In the smaller roles of The Sandman and Dew Fairy, Sasha Cooke and Lisette Oropesa do a fine job in conveying their characters supernatural benevolence.
Presiding over the whole undertaking from the pit is the sure hand of Russian maestro Vladimir Jurowski. He is a savvy enough conductor to know that this music needs to be played straight, without the saccharine milking of sentiment that too often comes with performances of this opera.

After attending performances at the MET for over 40 years, I can honestly say that this production is the most distasteful farce I have ever seen! Many people will still remember the glorious Merrill/ O'Hearn production of this opera and the joy it brought to thousands of people, including children (the Merrill/O'Hearn Met production is available on DVD....if you are lucky enough to find it). It seems to be popular today to take a composer's creation and twist it into something totally unrecognizable from the original libretto. No, I am not against bringing opera into the 21st Century but one has to be extremely cautious when dealing with an opera such as "Hansel and Gretel". It is an opera full of dreams, fears, poverty, love, angels, fairies, witches and triumph over adversities.
Granted, the new Met production attempts to do this but it is so blatantly ugly and depressive it just doesn't work. The opening scene brings to mind an episode from "The Honeymooners" (remember Alice's kitchen?). The Dream Sequence looks like a call-back for a "Jaba The Hut" chorus line audition. The final scene has absolutely no joy in it...no joy in the salvation of all the children.
The singing is less than adequate since you can't understand it. The new English libretto is riduculous. The production is so tedious that one just doesn't care what the Orchestra (the best in the world) sounds like.
Since I cannot give it less than 1 star, I give that "honor" to EMI for, at least, giving us some Met Performances. But please, EMI, give us a DVD of the Met HD performance of "Il Trittico"...people will buy that one.

First off, it's not the music making or singing that make this such a horrible evening at the opera. It's this psycho, pseudo-Eurotrash production that puts the beloved classic in some weird time and place - we have fish-headed waiters instead of a dream pantomime, a hausenfrau witch and a lot of other weird stuff. True, it's not as godawful as the ENO production of a few years back (that takes place in WWI England, the sandman is a coke-snorting wastrel and the mother and witch are portrayed by the same singer) but I wonder how awful opera productions have to get before we all scream, Enough!

If you get this one, turn off the picture and just listen to the music. Or better yet, get the earlier Met O'Hearn Production which has thankfully been reissued by DGG.

I saw this production at the Met last December and it was fabulous. Don't let unbending traditionalists who believe going to the opera is like going to the museum turn you away from this highly entertaining and extremely well sung performance of H & G. I can't wait to purchase this dvd and relive that magical afternoon at the Met!

I saw this new production at the MET and it just didn't work for me. None of the acts worked (although the last act somewhat redeems the show and I thought Philip Langridge did a great job).

This is a children's opera and it was never necessary to "adult it up"; the music already does that, it was always mature, thoughtful, respectful of the opera, never childish or dumbed down. The opera didn't need to be made edgy or raw. This is not the Hansel & Gretel everyone else and I loved and that is a shame. Isn't life already edgy and raw enough? If the 40-year old production needed to be replaced, fine, but the opera is older than that and it was always fine the way it was.

Update: I saw this again yesterday (12/29/2011) and enjoyed it much much more. I think I finally "got it". I did still like the old production but I'm over my former elistist attitude.