Humperdinck: Haensel Und Gretel

   in Opera Now (Feb, 2017)
Lesser post-Wagnerian delights are to be found in Adrian Noble’s production of Hänsel und Gretelfrom Vienna, 2015. Once the cute bit is over – two 19th-century children wander into the world of their family’s magic lantern show – it settles down to business as usual, apart from Christian Thielemann’s generous conducting and the superb orchestral playing. Daniela Sindram and Ileana Tonca sound healthy as the siblings, but close up there is something rather grotesque watching adults cavort as infants. If you enjoy watching a middle-aged woman dressed as a little boy and sucking her thumb I suggest you are perusing the wrong magazine. Michaela Schuster’s witch is too small-scale; Janine Baechle’s …