Engelbert Humperdinck’s celebrated fairy-tale opera for the whole family has returned to the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin! In this new production by Dagmar Manzel, the story of the siblings lost in the forest burgeons with fresh new life, full of childlike imagination, poetic wit, and plenty of magic.

It’s every parent’s nightmare: one minute you’re scolding the kids, the next minute they’ve disappeared! Hansel and Gretel have grown up living from hand to mouth. So it’s no wonder when they’re sent into the woods to gather berries. But that’s exactly when Hansel and Gretel immediately lose their way, after a quarrel with their mother. Left alone with their thoughts and fears – but also with their boundless imagination – the two children discover the world of the forest for themselves. And when they stumble upon a witch’s house overflowing with treats, their worries and hunger seem banished forever. If only there weren’t this thing with the witch … because she thinks her gingerbread is even better when children are part of the ingredients. It’s in their moment of greatest need that Hansel and Gretel ultimately prove their amazing strength in defeating evil together.

Hansel and Gretel remains one of the most famous fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, to which Engelbert Humperdinck has erected a musical monument with this opera, colourful and affecting like a Richard Wagner composition, gripping like an adventure story, and full of space for magic and imagination.

After the great success of her Pippi Longstocking, Dagmar Manzel now tackles another classic of children’s literature. Here, she’s reviving the magic of the German fairy tale, with all its inexplicable facets, eerie details, and invincible belief in goodness. Musical support is provided by conductor Yi-Chen Lin, who conjures up Humperdinck’s enchanting sounds from the depths of the forest floor.

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Hänsel und Gretel - Fairy-tale opera ("Märchenoper") in three acts (1893) by Engelbert Humperdinck
Libretto by Adelheid Wette