putting it mildly
Tim Ashley in the Guardian Unlimited writes:
When Hansel and Gretel are out of the house, their parents (Thomas Allen and Elizabeth Connell) prepare to have sex on one of the children’s beds, and we recognise the potential for deeply inappropriate behaviour lurking behind this family’s facade.
And speaking of deeply inappropriate behaviour, is Anja Silja starring in “The Katia Ricciarelli Story?”
A regie Dante opera could be put together about the lake of boiling tar in Hell that all whitecollar crooks and grafters are dumped. A scene with lots of people from Illinois and Grosse Pointe, Michigan(plus Mr. Madoff) boiling in tar would pack the audiences in. Someone go to work writing the music for this opus.
Not a bad idea, koslovsky.
This Christmas Eve I’ll sit in front the the TV with my much-prized (and now out of print) DVD of the Met’s O’Hearn production (Blegen, von Stade and Elias) and weep my eyes out during the pantomime with real angels. The rest of you may have your sick, stagy, symbolic laden Bettleheim nightmares.
Hello! Did anyone hear the broadcast of Hansel und Gretel from BBC? During the final applauses I heard a lot of “boo” and it seemed they were for Anja Silja….can anyone confirm that or explain what happened? Thanks!
Silja plays the Hexe – it’s traditional to boo the villain. When I went, she actively encouraged it. That would be the ONLY reason.
But, Windycityoperaman, the points made earlier make it quite clear that a lot of us wept through Pountney’s fantasy Clapham Common dream panto, and Jones’s magnificent banquet sequence too.
The RO show has winged creatures (not 14), but it don’t look good…
I agree with all who heap praise on the dream sequence in Jones’ production – a wonderful piece of musical theatre with the action on stage perfectly complementing the sublime music. When Jones’ productions work they are magnificent – H&G, Queen of Spades, Three Oranges. Operas with something fantastical about them seem to encourage his best work, while those that are more ‘real’ don’t fire his imagination in the same way. I remember his Carmen for Opera North which left me completely cold (and had one Leeds matron at the end saying to her companion ‘I think it was symbolic, but I don’t know what of’!).