[Met Performance] CID:255940



H?nsel und Gretel
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, December 20, 1978

Debut : Calvin Simmons, Carol Malone


In English



H?nsel und Gretel (173)
Engelbert Humperdinck | Adelheid Wette
H?nsel
Rosalind Elias

Gretel
Carol Malone [Debut]

Gertrud
Jean Kraft

Peter
Allan Monk

Witch
Paul Franke

Sandman
Alma Jean Smith

Dew Fairy
Betsy Norden


Conductor
Calvin Simmons [Debut]


Production
Nathaniel Merrill

Designer
Robert O'Hearn

Choreographer
Zachary Solov





Translation by Norman Kelley
H?nsel und Gretel received five performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Robert Jacobson in Opera News

Richard Strauss led the world premiere of Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" just fifteen years before his own "Elektra," and both works crossed paths during the holidays. The two-act fairytale opera was divertingly revived in the Disneyesque Merrill-O'Hearn production (Dec. 20), now conducted with seriousness of purpose, rich musicality, a keen sense of tempo and general alertness by the debuting Calvin Simmons. Like most conductors, however, he could not avoid letting the orchestra occasionally swamp his singers, so Wagnerian is Humperdinck's scoring; also, one sensed he was striving for a big overall reading rather than relishing the details. Another debut came in the Gretel of Carol Malone, an American active in Germany, who brought a bounty of exuberant, girlish personality and sureness onstage as well as a pleasing soprano voice that tended to turn hard on top. Rosalind Elias was again the boyish but sumptuous-sounding Hansel, while Jean Kraft made a strong impression as Gertrude and Allan Monk lent his lush, but pliable, baritone and excelling artistry to Peter, Less fortunate is the Met's continuing decision to use a comprimario tenor as the Witch, for Paul Franke sang it with a wobble wide enough to accommodate the whole candy house.



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