Hansel and Gretel Redux

Last December, the Minnesota Orchestra and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre unveiled a magical, fully staged production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. According to Bob Neu, orchestra general manager and production director, “The audience response was overwhelming.” So much so, the orchestra and Heart of the Beast decided to reprise the production this month with the original leads, Norah Long, Vera Mariner, Christina Baldwin, and Jennifer Baldwin Peden. There’s also talk about making it an annual event.

The opera, which Humperdinck wrote for his sister’s children, is a straightforward retelling of the Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale and includes all the requisite elements—the dark forest, the gingerbread house, the witch. Though the opera was written, and is typically sung, in German, this production is performed in English to appeal to a younger audience.

But even with some kid-friendly elements, Hansel and Gretel has much to offer adults, particularly in the stagecraft and the orchestral score. Despite the prevalence of melodies based on simple folk tunes, the score is rich in complexity and heavily influenced by Wagner. “It has big instrumentation and very florid orchestral writing,” Neu says.

Neu’s original idea was to create a semistaged version of Humperdinck’s opera. But when it came to handling the scene in which Hansel and Gretel fall asleep in the woods and fourteen angels descend from the heavens to protect them, Neu turned to Heart of the Beast and the production took a new direction. “I was trying to figure out how to give the angels elevation when we have no fly space,” he says. “The ten- to twelve-foot puppets [made by Heart of the Beast] gave such a sense of height, looking down on the children.”

The addition of the puppets made it necessary to turn Hansel and Gretel into a full production. “We couldn’t just present the puppets in isolation,” Neu says. Elaborate costumes, an oven, a gingerbread house, and more puppets were also added, which transformed a scaled-down show into a full-blown production worthy of becoming a holiday tradition. Dec. 8–9. Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-371-5656

Reach William Randall Beard at randybeard@hotmail.com.