HUMPERDINCK Hansel and Gretel
Deutsche Grammophon 00440 073 4348
Hansel and Gretel have grown a mean set of fangs over the years. In our current world of ironic wit and the wholesale slaughter of sacred cows, Humperdinck’s opulently Wagnerian, Grimm Brothers-based opera, Hänsel und Gretel, has revealed a Grand Guignol subtext in production after deconstructionist production – not least in the Richard Jones-directed staging that landed at the Metropolitan Opera a couple of seasons back, after making the rounds of other international houses. Jones’ dark concept of the piece – from the sweets rolling out of a gaping Hell-mouth to the Witch’s cottage-cum-abattoir – put to flight any lingering notions that this is a ‘children’s opera’.
But the Met today is a very different place than it was in 1982, when Nathaniel Merrill’s cosily traditional production (which had premiered at the house as far back as 1967, and was remounted in 1982 by stage director Bruce Donnell) was telecast at Christmas time. A DVD reissue of that TV airing has appeared on Deutsche Grammophon, and it proves to be a fascinating relic.
Robert O’Hearn’s gingerbread-and-lederhosen sets and costumes are pure kiddie-storybook creations, every plank of Hansel and Gretel’s house and every set of wings on the angels flown across stage during the Prayer having been rendered with paint-by-numbers predictability. The 1980s were the decade at the Met that brought us Otto Schenk’s deadly literal, backward-looking production of Wagner’s Ring (at long last being retired this fall), and Franco Zeffirelli’s more exasperatingly attempts at cinematic naturalism in Verdi and Puccini. At least this Merrill/O’Hearn Hansel and Gretel, though already a hoary specimen by 1982, fits right into the company aesthetic.
What saves the show, and actually makes the DVD worth a viewing or two, are the singers. Frederica Von Stade and Judith Blegen – both cute as can be onstage, and in their vocal primes (though Blegen hits a few patches in Act 2 that catch her voice out-of-sorts) – provide shimmering tone and childlike behavior that feels genuine and lived-in. Met house regular Jean Kraft plays Gertrude like Mommie Dearest and sings her like Erda. Michael Devlin’s Peter is handsomely sung, if two-dimensionally played, and both the Sandman and Dew Fairy are taken by sensitive and characterful sopranos (Diane Kesling and Betsy Norden respectively). Those looking for high-camp in singers playing the Witch may be disappointed in veteran mezzo Rosalind Elias’ gleefully mugged but (startling green tongue aside) rather straightforward performance. But her relish of the words (in Norman Kelley’s adequate, English singing-translation) and the pile-driving zest of her bravely flung high-notes make this late-career role rather fun to witness.
The audio engineering is fine, but don’t expect much more than archival quality from video that predates the HD revolution by more than a quarter-century.
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