Review: An evocative ‘Hansel and Gretel’ at Lyric Opera that leads us into the woods
Engelbert Humperdinck’s music for “Hansel and Gretel” is such an eclectic and cinematic composition that to hear it is to take an evocative ride through your own past. I variously found myself back in my school choir, walking alone through a fairground and recalling the time when my loving father once left me alone in a museum for a few minutes too long. Few other works have so combined folkic whimsy and emotional trauma, but then Hansel and Gretel are, I suppose, the poster siblings for such things.
Like J.K. Rowling, the Brothers Grimm well knew that children would respond better to works that didn’t keep lying about their safety.
The idea of an opera about the abandoned kids, the gingerbread house, the Sandman and a cannibalistic witch was suggested to Humperdinck by his sister Adelheid Wette, who wrote the subsequent libretto. The piece requires two adults to play children all night long, not a typical recipe for success. But one of the pleasures of the production that opened Wednesday night at the Lyric Opera of Chicago is how well the soprano Heidi Stober, who plays Gretel opposite Samantha Hankey’s earthier Hansel, encapsulates a lively and inquisitive young girl, both vocally and physically. Both Stober’s voice and body explore the role without condescension, and neither do they layer Gretel with some kind of faux adult sophistication. It’s a fine line and Stober, who is experienced in this role and jumps and struts all the way to the curtain call, has it down perfectly.
Gretel is the emotional heart of the story; Alfred Walker’s similarly excellent performance as Father is a deft match for parents with a level of cluelessness exploited so often in the 20th century by the writer Roald Dahl; Walker’s rich baritone always feels capable of spontaneous discovery, for sure, but you never question his broommaker’s limitations, nor those of Alexandra LoBianco’s panicked Mother. As for the witch: Well, Jill Grove’s exit into the oven felt like a welcome development and I intend that as a compliment.
The feel of this Richard Jones-directed production, first seen here some 22 years ago, is very Grand Guignol; the design from John Macfarlane, which squeezes the lonely, hungry kids into a triangular dystopia shorn of any Germanic joviality, recalls Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman.”
As such, the creepy production (restaged here by Eric Einhorn) is very much of its era. In 2001, many artists were compelled by the imperative that seemingly benign fairy tales, usually recalled from adulthood through a nostalgic gauze, should be exposed for their nightmarish rawness and sophisticated psychological underpinnings. At the time, I was often troubled by the implicit treatment of children as adults; we’ve arrived, I think, at a more balanced moment when it comes to truth and caretaking and Einhorn clearly has softened some edges, emphasized more of the comedy and allowed these beautiful singers to lean into the surreal aspects of a work so singularly capable of extending the aesthetic reach of folkic musical forms.
Watching the kids of Uniting Voices Chicago, formerly known as the Chicago Children’s Choir, who make an appearance in Act 2 after Hansel and Gretel have safely burned the witch, is a lot of fun; they seem vocally joyous in victory, even if Humperdinck’s score suggests it could be pyrrhic. It all depends how whether you believe there are more witches whence this one came.
Which brings me to Andrew Davis, who returned to the Lyric’s podium on Wednesday night, newly crowned as Lyric’s musical director emeritus and appearing energetic, relaxed and positively Sondheim-esque.
Children certainly were listening as Davis, seated in the pit and floating happily along with Humperdinck, offering, as the beloved Davis has done for so many decades, the crucial balm that there is nothing so wrong with the world that music cannot fix.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “Hansel and Gretel” (3.5 stars)
When: Through Feb. 5
Where: Lyric Opera of Chicago, 20 N. Wacker Drive
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Tickets: $40-$330 at 312-827-5600 and lyricopera.org
