Hansel and Gretel are the children of a poor broom maker and his wife. When one day they play cockily instead of doing their job, their mother sends them to the forest to collect berries as a punishment. Shortly afterwards, after a successful day, the father comes home happy and with a basket full of delicious things. He reproaches his wife for the children, because a dangerous witch is up to mischief in the forest. The parents start looking for their children. In the meantime, Hansel and Gretel have filled their baskets, but they have eaten all the berries themselves because they are so hungry. When they want to look for new ones, they notice that it has already got dark. You are lost in the forest. They decide to go to sleep and say their evening prayer. In a dream they experience wonderful things. The next morning they find themselves in front of a strange house made of gingerbread and sugar candy. When they want to nibble on it, the witch suddenly appears and takes her prisoner. Hansel is supposed to be roasted in the oven, but the children use a trick to push the witch into the oven instead. At the same moment the magic disappears and all the many children who were previously transformed into gingerbread by the witch regain their shape and are set free. When the parents arrive, the family is finally reunited. Happy they go home. instead to push the witch into the oven. At the same moment the magic disappears and all the many children who were previously transformed into gingerbread by the witch regain their shape and are set free. When the parents arrive, the family is finally reunited. Happy they go home. instead to push the witch into the oven. At the same moment the magic disappears and all the many children who were previously transformed into gingerbread by the witch regain their shape and are set free. When the parents arrive, the family is finally reunited. Happy they go home.
Engelbert Humperdinck's HÄNSEL UND GRETEL has been one of the most popular operas for the whole family for over 100 years. Traditionally performed around Christmas, the Humperdinck family initially regarded the work as a »family evil«. Adelheid Wette, the composer's sister, wrote a fairy tale game for her children based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale of the same name and asked her brother to set some songs from it to music. The piece, called a “Kinderstuben-Weihfestspiel” in the family jargon of the Wagner enthusiast Humperdinck, was to be performed on the occasion of the father's birthday. What saw the light of day as a piano version in 1890 was completed three years later by the composer as a great opera. Humperdinck could not resist the temptation to transform the work with its catchy melodies and the story, which is not only dramatic for children, into a two-hour symphonic masterpiece. It has been translated into over twenty languages and is still the first encounter with the world of opera for many children today.
Musically, the demanding work does not hide its closeness to Wagner, but it is also able to cast a spell over inexperienced ears. Cleverly placed "evergreens" like a little man standing in the forest , in the evening when I go to sleep, fourteen little angels stand around me or I am the little sandman who help with orientation and remain in the memory long after the stage lights have gone out.
Andreas Homoki and his set designer Wolfgang Gussmann tell the story in a child-friendly and straightforward manner. They contrast the opulence of the music with lightness and a poetic imagery that reaches its magical climax especially in the night scenes in the forest. Of course, there is also no lack of drama and theatrical horror effects, and the appearance of the witch, eagerly awaited by all children, is staged in an exciting, but not without humor. Even children from around eight years of age enjoy Humperdinck's fairy tale game, in which the fight against evil is won in the end and Hansel and Gretel, through their courage and ingenuity, turned not only themselves, but also all the others into gingerbread from the witch Show children the way to freedom.
»Director Andreas Homoki does not want to abuse the play for psychological quibbles or ideological announcements. He wants to show a play for children. He goes to work with intelligence and wit ... «[DeutschlandRadio Köln]
