November 22nd, 2009 
Admin 
Product Description
The Metropolitan Opera’s acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances.
A striking new English-language production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, starring Alice Coote and Christine Schäfer, with tenor Philip Langridge in the role of the Witch. Vladimir Jurowski, one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, leads a sensitive account of Humperdinck’s enchanting score, and Richard Jones and John Macfarlane provide a staging that is “is tough and dark, sparse and savage, an exploration of deprivation, cruelty and gluttony in a contemporary always-always-land.”
-Financial Times
Humperdinck – Hansel and Gretel
Related posts:
- Humperdinck – Hansel und Gretel / Liliana Nikiteanu, Malin Hartelius, Volker Vogel, Alfred Muff, Gabriele Lechner, Franz Welser-Most, Zurich Opera DescriptionHumperdinck’s first and most successful opera began life as...
- Hansel and Gretel audio CD Product Description12 original songs with coloring book and printable...
- HANSEL AND GRETEL: An Opera Fantasy Product DescriptionThis DVD, Hansel & Gretel: An Opera Fantasy,...
- The Little Prince Amazon.comThis may not be the most sophisticated opera undertaking...
- A Merry Christmas with Engelbert Humperdinck Product DescriptionNo Description Available.Genre: Christmas MusicMedia Format: Compact DiskRating:...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Posted in 
Tags: 
I took my 7 year old daughter to see this at the Met. I can honestly tell you that this was the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed, disgusting to the point that my daughter nearly became ill. I can honestly tell you that most of the people leaving the opera house at Lincoln center were also flabbergasted and nauseated by this bizarre production of a classic. If you enjoy watching people throwing up, and little children eating burnt corpses then by all means buy this, this is for you. But if you wish to see a production meant for young children, then run for your life from this one. Your youngsters will need a long chat with a psychiatrist after seeing this, as certainly does the creator of this horror show. The only redeeming quality was the superb music, other than that, forget it! By the way, a prominent critic said of this production that this wasn’t “Hansel and Gretel,” but more like “Hambone and Gristle!” I totally concur! There is nothing wrong with a little tradition when something is meant for children, I can get the other stuff from B horror movies if I so choose and I don’t have to pay $100.00 dollars a ticket. Buying the DVD would only add insult to injury!
Rating: 1 / 5
After attending performances at the MET for over 40 years, I can honestly say that this production is the most distasteful farce I have ever seen! Many people will still remember the glorious Merrill/ O’Hearn production of this opera and the joy it brought to thousands of people, including children (the Merrill/O’Hearn Met production is available on DVD….if you are lucky enough to find it). It seems to be popular today to take a composer’s creation and twist it into something totally unrecognizable from the original libretto. No, I am not against bringing opera into the 21st Century but one has to be extremely cautious when dealing with an opera such as “Hansel and Gretel”. It is an opera full of dreams, fears, poverty, love, angels, fairies, witches and triumph over adversities.
Granted, the new Met production attempts to do this but it is so blatantly ugly and depressive it just doesn’t work. The opening scene brings to mind an episode from “The Honeymooners” (remember Alice’s kitchen?). The Dream Sequence looks like a call-back for a “Jaba The Hut” chorus line audition. The final scene has absolutely no joy in it…no joy in the salvation of all the children.
The singing is less than adequate since you can’t understand it. The new English libretto is riduculous. The production is so tedious that one just doesn’t care what the Orchestra (the best in the world) sounds like.
Since I cannot give it less than 1 star, I give that “honor” to EMI for, at least, giving us some Met Performances. But please, EMI, give us a DVD of the Met HD performance of “Il Trittico”…people will buy that one.
Rating: 1 / 5
Anthony Rossi wrote, “It seems to be popular today to take a composer’s creation and twist it into something totally unrecognizable from the original libretto.” Bravo, Anthony! Unfortunately, this is what the Met is doing with almost all their new productions.
First, there is no logic in saying that this opera takes place in three kitchens. It does not; it takes place in the cottage, in the woods, and at the gingerbread house. Waiters in pig faces have no place in the story. And the greatest travesty of all is the Jerry Lewis/Three Stooges approach to the witch. She (he) is supposed to be frightening, not manically hysterical. If you want a food fight, go to Animal House.
Besides a terrible production, the singing is not up to the usual Met standards.
I am delighted that I saw this first on television and did not waste my money buying the dvd.
Rating: 1 / 5
First off, it’s not the music making or singing that make this such a horrible evening at the opera. It’s this psycho, pseudo-Eurotrash production that puts the beloved classic in some weird time and place – we have fish-headed waiters instead of a dream pantomime, a hausenfrau witch and a lot of other weird stuff. True, it’s not as godawful as the ENO production of a few years back (that takes place in WWI England, the sandman is a coke-snorting wastrel and the mother and witch are portrayed by the same singer) but I wonderful how awful opera productions have to get before we all scream, Enough!
If you get this one, turn off the picture and just listen to the music. Or better yet, wait for DG to revive the Pioneer Classics DVD of the earlier Met O’Hearn Production.
Rating: 1 / 5
I have to say that I enjoyed this production, even though it was weird and darker than usual. I feel like I understood where they were trying to go with it, but they weren’t very successful. The biggest problem that I had while watching this was the diction (mostly Christine Schafer) and the horrible new translation. I rather liked Alice Coote as Hansel. I especially like Sasha Cook! Overall, an “ok” production, but there are other really nice ones (the movie version with Gruberova) I also agree with the first commenter about the HD production of Il Trittico, I really hope they release that one soon.
Rating: 3 / 5