Hansel & Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinc

515 East Thacker Street,Des Plaines IL 60016

12 August, 2021

Description

Chicago Summer Opera performs with orchestra and a cast nationally renowned young artists. Come and join for a wonderful evening of music. ​The young siblings Hänsel and Gretel live in poverty with their parents on the edge of a deep forest. During one chore-filled day, they grumble over their hunger and distract themselves with jokes and dancing. Their mother Gertrude, driven by anxiety over feeding her family, grows frustrated with their antics and orders them to leave the house to pick strawberries. When their father Peter arrives home with a surprise bounty of food, he and Gertrude rejoice before realizing the children have not returned. After recalling rumors of the Ilsenstein, the mountain home of a witch who uses sweets to lure children towards a horrible fate, the parents go off in search of Hänsel and Gretel. The children, who eat more strawberries than they pick, realize they’re lost. Thanks to the Sandman and the protection of 14 angels, Hänsel and Gretel drift off to sleep. When the Dew Fairy awakes them, the children discover a beautiful gingerbread house adorned with delicious sweets. They begin to eat and are captured by the Witch, who intends to use their love of sweets to her advantage by fattening the siblings for her own feast. The true darkness of this tale of poverty and hunger is muted by Humperdinck’s memorable melodies and the imaginative, candy-bright viewpoint of the youthful protagonists; in the same way, Hänsel and Gretel’s ingenuity and teamwork as they work to escape provides comfort and hope to all who face nightmarish fears. Based on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale of a brother and sister’s candy-filled misadventure, it is rather fitting that Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel was born from a request by his own sister for a set of children’s songs. Humperdinck gradually expanded the work into the popular opera, for which that same sister, Adelheid Wette, penned the libretto.​ Creative TeamStage Director: Margaret Jumonville Conductor: Codrut Birsan Assistant Director: Helen Park Assistant Conductor: Christian Olson Resident Coach: ​Gongmingn Jiang Cast ListGretel: Elizaveta KozlovaGretel: Suehyun KoGertrud: Cassie WarthenGertrud: Kathleen CrandallSandman: Margarita ParsamyanSandman: Katniss BiDewfairy: Grace ManningDewfairy: Sabrina CohnHansel: Grace VerbicHansel: Vanessa JarraWitch: Alyce DaubenspeckWitch: Veronica WilliamsPeter: Yongjae LeePeter: CodyRay CahoCover Gretel: Megan McCarthyCover Sandman: Haeun BaekCover Dewfairy: Haeun BaekCover Hansel: Leora GilgurCover Witch: Eduardo BelmonteNote: General social distancing guidelines will be encouraged. For the safety of our audience, the theater will not be at full capacity. We encourage unvaccinated audience members to wear a mask. ​A Non-Profit Organization with a mission to provide world class training to gifted artists and to offer accessible high quality performances to our community. At Chicago Summer Opera, we offer training in role preparation, vocal technique, dramatic preparation, audition technique, and stage movement. In addition to the main stage productions, the program will offer staged scenes and one act operas with piano. This combination of training helps developing singers grow immensely in a short period of time.