HANSEL AND GRETEL - Engelbert Humperdinck.

Left alone at home Hansel complains to his sister that he is hungry. Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbour has given them for family supper and to cheer themselves up she starts to teach her brother how to dance, only to be interrupted by the sudden return of their mother. Complaining how little work the children have done she angrily chases them into the woods to pick strawberries.

Minutes later their father returns home, slightly intoxicated, but carrying plenty of food after a good day at work. Asking where his children are, he is horrified to hear that they have been sent into the woods and explains the danger this presents because of the evil witch that lives there. They rush off to seek them out.

Meanwhile in the woods the children realise they have lost their way and grow increasingly frightened and tired eventually saying their prayers and falling asleep together. Awakened by the dew fairy they find themselves in front of a gingerbread house where they are immediately confronted by the Witch who casts a spell on them so they are unable to move. The Witch locks Hansel inside a cage so she can fatten him up for her supper. On overhearing the Witch's frightening plan Gretel succeeds in breaking the spell and she and Hansel manage to push her into the hot oven, which explodes bringing the enchanted gingerbread children back to life. Hansel and Gretel's parents appear and everyone joins together to express gratitude for their salvation.

Based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Humperdinck's truly enchanting score brilliantly displays the conflicts between adulthood and childhood, hunger and satiety, reality and fantasy and good and evil.

Conductor: Lionel Friend
Original Director: Elijah Moshinsky
Rehearsed by: Richard Jones
Set and Costume Designer: Mark Thompson
Lighting Designer: Nigel Levings

Hansel: Victoria Lambourn
Gretel: Jacqueline Porter
Peter: Douglas McNicol
Gertrude: Roxane Hislop
Sandman: Cherie Boogaart
Dew Fairy: Jessica Dean

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
and
State Opera Childrens Chorus

Sung in English