The Many Facets of Hansel and Gretel

The first week of rehearsal for Hansel and Gretel is going gangbusters! We have a terrific group of our favorite guest artists back in Indianapolis, with a talented director who is an expert on this opera. And if you didn’t see the premier in 1999, you won’t believe the fabulous sets by renown children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak.

 

First the cast. Soprano Marnie Breckenridge is Gretel. You will remember her in the roles of Lucia and Pamina in prior IO productions. Her pure sound and physical grace make her a charming Gretel. Indiana University graduate Kirsten Gunlogson, portrays Hansel with great enthusiasm and a rich mezzo vocal quality. An Indianapolis favorite, her most recent performance was as Nicklause in last season’s Tales of Hoffmann. While both have performed here, they have not performed together until now, but you wouldn’t know that from watching them work together.

 

We are so pleased to welcome soprano Elizabeth Byrne to Indianapolis Opera, singing both the Witch and the Mother. While this is her Indianapolis debut, she has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago’s Lyric Opera and numerous European houses, and we are fortunate to have her. Baritone Victor Benedetti portrays the Father. His previous IO performances include last season’s Tosca and The Pearl Fishers.

 

Add to this mix stage director Amy Hutchison, who worked with Sendak in 2000 on the original premier. She is intimate with this opera and is conveying great nuance to her singers. “These children do not have a carefree childhood. They have lots of responsibility,” she told them. “They are careworn children thrust deep into danger.”

 

All of our guest artists have sung Hansel and Gretel before, but in English, which is common in the U.S. So our production holds an additional challenge in that they are singing in German. While German fits well with the music, picture, Marnie concentrating on her German lyrics while also practicing her hopscotch and imagine Kirsten enunciating German while chewing strawberries!

 

Speaking of the music, this opera is a very interesting study in contrasts. On the one hand it is based on the well-known folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, with a number of the musical themes based on folk motifs. On the other, the orchestration demonstrates the influence of Richard Wagner on composer Englebert Humperdinck, who worked briefly as an associate of Wagner’s. Certainly there are lighter moments when we focus on the children. But in the more moody scenes, such as in the forest, the homage to Wagner is discernable.

 

To begin with, the orchestra is the same size as that Wagner used, and projects the same musical color. Like Wagner, Humperdinck through-composed, meaning there are no breaks after arias or between scenes. The music is also very dense—all instruments play all the time. Wagner operas are known for their powerful singers, who can out-sing orchestras with muscle. But for Hansel and Gretel, larger and older singers are not believable in the title roles, so we look for singers who are believable and who can still be heard over the orchestra (while dancing and playing!). All of these factors add to the difficulty our artists must overcome with this score.

 

Return here next week for a fun report on how the Indianapolis Children’s Choir is performing as the chorus for Hansel and Gretel!

 

Jim

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Marnie Breckenridge (Gretel), stage director Amy Hutchison and Kirsten Gunlogson (Hansel) stage the forest scene.