Comparison Of Hansel, Humperdinck-Opera

In 2007, Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck - Opera, directed by Markus L. Frank and Johannes Felsenstein, aired at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany. Though the Anhaltisches theatre was not shown in whole, the stage was quite small and not many scene changes were predominant. Gretel, who was portrayed by Cornelia Marschall was the ideal character for a young girl. Her pearl white complexion helped add to the presumption that Gretel is a pure, innocent child, and her crazy red hair embodied the rebellious child inside of her. Whereas Hänsel, Gretel’s brother, who also played by a female actress, Sabine Noack, was a rebellious, reckless child shown in his tattered clothing. Since male opera singers have deep voices and women have higher

Since every phrase and verse was sung in a playful tone, it really kept me on the edge of my seat. Even though it was all sung in German, it was hard for me to read the English subtitles while trying to understand the plot. Though Hänsel and Gretel is a classic tale and I knew what should happen I was still caught off guard by the fact that on the screen in the back of the stage there were video montages of what seemed to be World War 2 videos showing bombing and many cases of poverty (possibly showing the cause of why Hänsel and Gretel have lack of food and clothing). In the original story of Hänsel and Gretel, it is obvious when they go into the forest to fetch strawberries but in the play they just hid under their bed while the parents were talking and then randomly end up with a basket full of strawberries. There were no major scene changes from the house to the forest. And, the brother and sister don’t even go inside the Witch’s house. It became Christmas morning and they woke up in a well furnished house with a big Christmas tree and a small gingerbread house was in the corner of the stage. The father came down with a handkerchief wrapped around his head and pretended to be the witch. He then proceeded to grab two dolls that were made after Hänsel and Gretel and the whole family role-played with the dolls and gingerbread house, defeating the “witch” and freeing all the taken souls, which were children who then lined up across the stage and began to