Engelbert Humperdinck HANSEL & GRETEL Presented with Arts Centre Melbourne 18-21 June 2014
SYNOPSIS PSST... Family packages return in 2015! Hansel and Gretel are playing in their house in the woods, waiting for their parents to come home. They should be making brooms, but are playing games instead. Hansel moans about being hungry, and Gretel distracts him by teaching him a fun dance. She also shows him a surprise hidden away - a jug of milk their mother will turn into custard. Their mother comes home and tells them off for being naughty - then sends the children out in to the woods with a basket to gather strawberries. Father comes home, very happy that he s sold many broomsticks and bought the family a basket full of delicious food. He soon cheers up the Mother. However, when she tells him that the children are in the woods, he becomes worried and tells Mother about the Evil One who lives in the gloomy wood, full of magic spells. This Evil One is a Witch, who lives in a crispy, crunchy house of sugar and spice. She entices children into her house, puts them in her oven and turns them into Gingerbread Children. Out in the woods, Hansel and Gretel are gathering strawberries. They come across a cuckoo bird and hear the leaves in the trees whispering, and they become quite scared. Suddenly a small man called the Sandman arrives carrying a sack - he reassures the children that he is good and sprinkles magic sand in their eyes to help them sleep. Morning comes, and the Dew Fairy shakes dewdrops over the sleeping children. As they wake, she disappears. The morning mist clears, and they see a house nearby with a fence made out of gingerbread figures. Hansel soon realises that the house is edible, breaks off a piece of the house and eats it. The Witch soon startles him, and he drops the piece of edible house in a fright. The Witch entices the children closer, encouraging them to approach her. They decide to run off, but the Witch casts a magic spell over them with her wand. Hansel and Gretel are too clever to be tricked by her magic, and tease the Witch. The Witch tries to push Hansel into the oven, but he says that he can t manage it, and the Witch bends over showing him how to get inside the oven. Together the children give her a big push, and she falls right in to the oven, with the door closing behind her. Hansel and Gretel celebrate the Witch s demise. Suddenly they are surrounded by other children. Gretel approaches them and slowly they open their eyes, smiling. The children thank Hansel and Gretel for saving them from the Witch, and hand in hand they sing. The Father and Mother join them, happy that their children are safe and well. Sue Arney SYNOPSIS / Hansel & Gretel
COLOURING BOOK Hansel and Gretel at home doing their chores Illustration Ross Hall Hansel & Gretel / COLOURING BOOK
COLOURING BOOK The Sandman appears through the mist Illustration Ross Hall COLOURING BOOK / Hansel & Gretel
COLOURING BOOK The Dew Fairy appears Illustration Ross Hall Hansel & Gretel / COLOURING BOOK
COLOURING BOOK The children see a house made of gingerbread and lollies Illustration Ross Hall COLOURING BOOK / Hansel & Gretel
HANSEL & GRETEL 18-21 June 2014 Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio Composer Engelbert Humperdinck Librettist Adelheid Wette Chamber orchestra arrangement by Julian Langdon First performed 1893, Germany. Running time approximately 60 minutes with no interval. Hansel and Gretel is presented with Arts Centre Melbourne. CREATIVE TEAM Conductor Assistant Conductor Director Set & Costume Designer Lighting Designer Production Manager Stage Manager Principal Reptiteur Repetiteurs Head Mechanist Machinist Cutter Wigs Fabian Russell Simon Bruckard Libby Hill Ross Hall Peter Darby Michele Bauer Luke Hales Phillipa Safey Simon Bruckard Phoebe Briggs Adam Graf Madeleine Somers Alice Swing Linda Cowell Featuring the students of the Master of Music (Opera Performance), a collaboration between Victorian Opera and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With thanks to: Arts Centre Melbourne, CVP, Justin Green from Just Imagine Productions, Resolution X, Scenic Studios, audio description provided by Caroline Travers. DISCOVER MORE ABOUT VICTORIAN OPERA victorianopera.com.au victorianopera.com.au/blog facebook.com/vopera twitter.com/victorianopera instagram.com/victorianopera youtube.com.au/victorianoperapage CAST Hansel Gretel Mother/Angel/Child Father/Angel/Child Sandman Dew Fairy Witch Angel/Child ORCHESTRA Orchestra Manager 1st Violin 2nd Violin 3rd Violin Viola Cello Double Bass Flute Oboe 1st Clarinet 2nd Clarinet Bassoon 1st French Horn 2nd French Horn Emma Muir-Smith Cristina Russo Elizabeth Lewis Nathan Lay Michael Petruccelli Kate Amos Carlos E. Bárcenas Matthew Tng Cameron Lukey Victoria Bihun Ben Spiers Miranda Matheson Hayato Simpson Eliza Sdraulig Rebecca Scully Tamara Kohler Jasper Ly Lloyd Van t Hoff Magdalenna Krstevska Chris Martin Robert McMillan Kara Hahn Hansel & Gretel / PRODUCTION INFORMATION
INTO THE WOODS A darkly enchanting fairytale for adults 19-26 July 2014 BOOK NOW Arts Centre Melbourne Tickets from $50 $30 tickets for 30 years & under 1300 182 183 (fees apply) victorianopera.com.au Into the Woods Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Lapine Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine By arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd Exclusive agent for Music Theatre International (NY)