Open Door Opera Presents Hansel and Gretel
By: BWW
News Desk Dec. 17, 2011
Open Door Opera return to the King?s Head with Hansel and Gretel, Engelbert Humperdinck?s beautiful account of this beloved fairy-tale. First performed on December 23rd 1893, Hansel and Gretel quickly became the opera associated with Christmas and has been ever since. It
even contains its own pantomime!
When their Mother sends Hansel and Gretel out of the house to look for food, the children quickly find themselves lost in the depths of a dark forest. Finally, almost starving, they find a house made of bread, cakes and sweets. No one?s about; in their relief they begin to eat. However, the
house is inhabited by a Witch, who hunts children to turn into gingerbread.
She captures Hansel and Gretel, and begins to fatten them up, ready for the oven...
Conducted by the dazzling Kelvin Lim, with a beautiful new translation and direction from Lewis Reynolds and designs by world-renowned artist Valentino Monticello, you won?t find a more warming theatrical experience to remember this Christmas.
Open Door Opera are busy pulverising dusty old opera stereotypes and squashing the school of „stand there and sing? with a brightly coloured, cast-iron mallet. They are a company of professional singers, conductors and stage directors brought together by the conviction that opera can and should be enjoyed by everyone.
Open Door Opera?s King?s Head production of The Telephone and The Medium sold out in the summer and received acclaim: "consistent laughs... fantastic performances... refreshing, enjoyable... a powerful combo ****" (Gay Times).
The King's Head Theatre is London's first pub theatre since Shakespeare's time, founded in 1970 by American maverick Dan Crawford, with 45 West-End/Broadway transfers to its credit. Adam
Spreadbury-Maher became the venue's second Artistic Director in February 2010 and has since established a programme of Opera and Musical Theatre, reinventing the venue as London's Little
Opera House. As well as hosting visiting companies the theatre is now home to a repertory season of in-house productions by resident company OperaUpClose (with Co-Artistic Director Robin Norton-Hale).
Translator & Director Lewis Reynolds
Music Director Kelvin Lim
Designer Valentino Monticello
Associate Designer Laurie Bamon
Costume Designer Eleanor Reynolds
Lighting Designer Sarah McColgan
Poster Artwork Kirstie Nichols
Producers Danae Pallikaropoulos
Lewis Reynolds
Alexandra Stevenson
Cast includes - Dominic Barrand, Daisy Brown, Rhonda Browne, Rosalind Coad. Rebecca Dale, Danae Eleni, Janet Fischer, Laura Kelly, Ian Massa-Harris, Miriam Sharrad, Katie Slater, Alexandra Stevenson, Ian Wilson-Pope.
SEASON
Evening performances - 7.15pm
December 17, 19-23, 27-30
Tickets: £17.50/ £22.50/ £15 (conc)
at the King's Head Theatre
115 Upper Street
Islington N1 1QN
www.kingsheadtheatre.com
0207 478 0160
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