There are many ways to produce "Hansel and Gretel." In an abbreviated
form, it makes an ideal "children's opera." If you go back to the original
story, from Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, you can balance Humperdinck's
splendid Wagnerian excess with potentially horrendous subtext, about
uncaring parents, cannibalistic witches and the like.

Treatments range from a hilarious German soft-porn movie (using the
Schwarzkopf recording, no less!) to Maurice Sendak's tribute to the
survival of children when facing a terrifying world, with only "a drunk
mother and a weak, absent father" on their side. (It's the father who
is usually portrayed as drunk, but Sendak thought otherwise.)

And so we come to today's San Francisco Opera premiere of the Richard
Jones production from Chicago and the Welsh National Opera, directed by
Linda Dobell.

What is it like? Everything AND the kitchen sink. A bloody kitchen sink
- not a curse, just a description. A mish-mash, good and bad, gross and
charming.

Let's start with what's good: there is plenty of that. Under Nicholas
McGegan's direction, the SF Opera Orchestra was once again at its dazzling
best, playing the great romantic score with precision and elan, never
milking it.

Graham Clark (unwell, according to a pre-curtain announcement) was a wonder
and a riot as Rosina, a very female witch in this production. Besides those
long, shimmering orchestral portions, Clark aria-and-cooking was the
highlight of the performance, where everything was integrated, consistent,
effective.

There were good performances by the principals - Catrin Wyn-Davies as
Gretel, Sara Fulgoni as Hansel, but before I looked in the program, I
could have sworn there are German singers performing the English text,
especially Wyn-Davies. In fact, she is Welsh and Fulgoni is English.
Another singer from Wales, Mary Lloyd-Davies sang the Mother, in a
portrayal right out of a Mike Leigh film.

Greta Feeney's Sandman/Dew Fairy and David Okerlund's Father were
highlights of the show, way out of proportion with their length or
importance.  Wonderful performances and excellent diction.

About the garbage in the kitchen sink: the huge scene curtains progress
from an empty plate to the close-up of a mouth and throat (complete with
teeth badly in need of periodontal care) to a bloody plate to a broken
plate. When the children wake up from their sleep at the beginning of
Act 3, their clothes are bloodstained. Just what were the 14 grotesque
cook-angels serving at the end of Act 2? (For a photo, see
http://sfopera.com/os_opera_operaintro.asp?operaseasonid=178.)

The brief scene in Act 1 when the parents come home is full of tension,
meanness, threat of violence. John Macfarlane's set design is helpful
in reducing the size of the stage to small spaces, but the tradeoff is
that with their metallic feel and slanted walls, they are deliberately
claustrophobic. "Grisly meat pie" references bring Sweeney Todd into the
picture.

Never mind that these elements are inappropriate for the many young
children brought, inevitably, to the Opera House. What is their contribution
to the enjoyment of great music well performed, at any age? Still, let's
be fair: not a single trench coat in the whole production!

Janos Gereben/SF
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