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Humperdinck - Hansel and Gretel / Fritzsch, Australian Opera |
List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $26.99 |
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Reviews |
Features:
Description:
A colorful, campy version of Humperdinck's tuneful opera from the Brothers Grimm tale, this 1994 Australian Opera production's best assets are its title characters and villainous witch. Both Suzanne Johnston (Hansel) and Christine Douglas (Gretel) perfectly exude the young impishness of the siblings who get lost in the woods and nearly pay with their lives, and Margaret Haggart brings down the house as the witch who finds herself baking in her own oven. Stage director Elijah Moshinsky, never a traditionalist, gives this Hansel a modernist slant that becomes absurdly silly whenever shown in close-up by video director Virginia Lumsden. Johannes Fritzsch leads the Australian Opera Orchestra in a notable account of Humperdinck's ingratiating score. Technical quibble: the opera is sung in English (with no subtitles), which, because of poor diction, is sometimes unintelligible, despite good Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. --Kevin Filipski
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