Enter a fantastical world full of magic, where fairies and angels appear, and an enchanted forest leads two lost children to a candy house where they must escape from a wicked witch. Composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairytale opera, based on the classic story from Brothers Grimm, is perfect for all ages!
Featuring a wonderful cast of rising opera stars along with the Opera Birmingham Chorus, accompanied by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
Although originally written in German, this production of Hansel & Gretel will be sung in English! The performance length is approximately two hours with one intermission.
Frances Rabalais
Stage Director
ACT I
In the broom-maker’s house. Hansel complains he is hungry. Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbor has given for the family’s supper. The children dance. Their mother returns and wants to know why they have got so little work done. She accidentally spills the milk and chases the children out into the woods to pick strawberries.
Their father, a broom-maker, returns home drunk. He brings out the food he has bought, then asks where the children have gone. The mother tells him that she has sent them into the woods. He tells her about the Witch who lives there, and that the children are in danger. They go out into the woods to look for them.
ACT II
In the woods. Hansel picks strawberries. The children hear a cuckoo singing and eat the strawberries. Soon they have eaten every one. In the sudden silence of the wood, Hansel admits to Gretel that he has lost the way. The children grow frightened.
The Sandman comes to bring them sleep, sprinkling sand over their eyes. The children say their evening prayer. In a dream, they see 14 angels.
ACT III
The gingerbread house. The Dew Fairy comes to waken the children. Gretel wakes Hansel, and they see the gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch. The Witch decides to fatten Hansel up and puts a spell on him. The oven is hot. Gretel breaks the Witch’s spell and sets Hansel free. When the Witch asks her to look in the oven, she pretends she doesn’t know how to: the Witch must show her. When the Witch peers into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door. The oven explodes. The gingerbread children come back to life. The mother and father find the children, and all express gratitude for their salvation.
—Courtesy Welsh National Opera
Our season has been made possible, in part, by grants from Alabama Power Foundation, Alabama State Council on the Arts, The Caring Foundation of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, The Daniel Foundation of Alabama, Hugh Kaul Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts, and by support from Alabama Media Group. Student tickets are supported by The Caring Foundation of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
“Sandman Aria” & “Evening Prayer” performed in concert by Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.
Enjoy this clip from a previous staged production of Hansel & Gretel, performed by Pittsburgh Opera from 2018.
Mezzo-Soprano Claire Barnett-Jones singing the witch’s aria, “Ja, Gretelchen…Hurr, Hopp Hopp Hopp” in concert with the orchestra of the South Netherlands Philharmonic, Philharmonie Zuidnederland.