Hänsel and Gretel

Opera on acid

So few operas are accessible to children. So when whimsical gem like Hänsel and Gretel cames along in this season's production line-up, I had high hopes for a fabulous treat that adults could even love. Argh! Instead I got a tripped-out adult version sure to make an LSD trip turn into a nightmare. There is a big recurring mouth-and-tongue that looks like a graphic merge of Pink Floyd meeting The Rolling Stones. Then there's the 1950's parents channeling Leave It to Beaver looks with Honeymooner attitudes, a male witch impersonating Mrs. Doubtfire complete with cake facial, and banquet hall serving as a forest with tree-headed suited men standing guard. Hansel and Gretel pick-pocket the trees for berries, apparently halucinogenic, and are lured to sleep by a crony sandman with an angelic voice. They dream of fourteen 'angels' and of a lovely table of food. Unfortunately the angels were puffy, fat-faced chefs that looked like the bastard children of the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Swedish Chef, only uglier and fatter. A fish-headed waiter also rounded out the weirdness. There was no candy house, only that weird mouth delivering a big iced layered cake on a remote controlled cart. And the insane 'cooking' sequence with the witch mushing up all the sweet treats in a blender and Kitchen Aide mixer seemed like a bad Saturday Night Live skit; Dan Akroyd channeling Julia Child shouldn't be part of this opera. Overall, the set designs and direction were so strange and perverse I was completely turned off by the production. I would have greatly prefered a more traditional approach or at least an attempt to make this enjoyable for both children and adults. If Pixar can do it, why can't The Met?

On a good note, Vladimir Jurowski and orchestra did a superb and lyrical job with the score. I love the use of so many instruments and sounds to represent all the noises and emotions of Hansel and Gretel's journey.