Seattle Opera’s Production of Hansel & Gretel Gets a Comedic Twist
Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel Returns To Seattle Opera
By Jim Demetre October 6, 2016
This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.
German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s folk-tune-influenced adaptation of the famously dark Grimm Brothers fairy tale from 1812 has not been seen at Seattle Opera for 23 years.
But this October, Halloween comes early to McCaw Hall with the return of this musical drama of starvation, sorcery, cannibalism and bravery. French director Laurent Pelly’s fantastical 2008 Glyndebourne Opera Festival production, which takes place in the aisles of the Witch’s shopping-mall residence after the lost brother and sister’s parents are reduced to living in a cardboard box, is a richly imagined, comedic and horror-ridden critique of the consumerism that pervades our contemporary culture.
German with subtitles. October 15-30. Times and prices vary. Seattle Opera, McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, 321 Mercer St.; 206.389.7676; seattleopera.org
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