Hänsel and Gretel by Glyndebourne Touring Opera - review
Laurent Pelly's production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel offers glorious comedy, social satire and a touch of the grotesque
YOU know the story: two poverty-stricken kids are abandoned in a forest. They are trapped by a wicked witch in a gingerbread cottage who is intent on fattening them up and cooking them, but they push her into the oven and escape.
With two of the main characters children, it's not an easy story to stage convincingly but director Laurent Pelly has added some glorious comic touches which combine with Engelbert Humperdinck's music - no, not the Eurovision Song Contest Engelbert Humperdinck: this is the original one who was a German composer) to produce a real musical pantomime.
The opening set sees Hansel and Gretel living in squalor in a tumbledown cottage made entirely of giant pieces of cardboard.
Victoria Yarovnaya (Hansel) and Andriana Chuchman (Gretel) flap around well as gawky children, while Anne Mason and Stephen Gadd give good performances as their slobbish parents but for all the joyous music and excellent stage and lighting effects, the high point of this production ought to be the witch.
Instead of the traditional gingerbread cottage, Pelly has updated her residence into a supermarket with shelves packed high with goodies. Somehow, however, Colin Judson's broomstick never seemed to operate at full speed.
This is a true comic role, with one glorious, long witchy song which should have the audience falling off their seats in laughter. Judson has a lovely natural tenor voice and sang it perfectly well and he flew around the stage energetically on his broomstick but the audience remained stubbornly silent.
There was something wrong here and I cannot put my finger on it. Perhaps it needed better setting up with a higher standard of comic timing earlier in the performance; perhaps it was the audience's fault.
The music is charming; the singing was excellent; the production is outstanding but something was missing. Perhaps the audiences in the various touring venues will throw themselves into the sheer enjoyment of it all, making it easier for the cast to enjoy themselves. Let's hope so.
VERDICT: 4/5
For tickets and touring schedule visit glyndebourne.com or 01273 815 000
The three operas in this year's Glyndebourne tour contain something for everyone: Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore is a wonderful musical comedy, this Hansel and Gretel has the makings of a great pantomime and Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia will suit the serious opera-goer in search of drama.
