Oberlin

Oberlin Opera Review: Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel
››› December 5, 2013 | Posted By Larry Dunn

Perhaps it's something in the water (it does taste bit odd) or maybe it's a witches spell? How else could small-town Oberlin College & Conservatory mount a production of Englebert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel that would be the envy of any of our fine American regional and second-tier opera companies. That is precisely what Oberlin Opera Theater accomplished in performances November 6-10, 2013, at Hall Auditorium.

Whatever it is attracts preternaturally talented student-musicians who are passionately committed to honing their art and craft. And it also draws world-class professionals like production designer/director Jonathon Field, conductor Raphael Jiménez, and a host of others who dedicate their energies to teaching and guiding the development of these remarkable young artists. As evidenced by the November 9 performance, their achievement in this production was remarkable.

From the opening bars of the overture, Jiménez clearly had the sardine-packed Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in the pit hanging on his every gesture. His forces brought out each nuance as they unfurled Humperdinck's score full of chromatic colors and irresistible forward thrust. They captured the flowery scent of Gretel's theme, the military march of Hänsel's, and the ominous warning of the Witch's with equal aplomb. A couple of early struggles in the brass were easily excused. These are, after all, students.

The lights came up on a bucolic forest setting, achieved with movable overlapping panels of tree silhouettes. A suitably shabby, threadbare peasant's cottage sat center stage, ready for the action. Soprano Emily Hopkins as Gretel and mezzo-soprano Nicole Levesque as Hänsel perfectly inhabited their childlike roles in both their singing and acting, aided by very effective costuming. Levesque, in particular, was charmingly boyish with a newsboy cap and nice bits of brotherly bravado. In their opening duet, Hopkins singing was a bit too soft at first, but she seemed to quickly find her bearings and the two voices were well matched the rest of the long haul the two of them were on stage.

One of Field's production innovations was to inject a heightened physicality into the action, borne of the notion that children with the chutzpah to dispose of the witch are probably no strangers to the everyday violence and brutality of peasant life in antiquity. Working from a notion that Vater beats Mutter, who then smacks around the kinder, Field transformed Hänsel and Gretel's dance scene in Act I into a roughhouse wrestling match and had them engaging in physical horseplay throughout. It was a convincing transformation and added drama and weight to an opera that is often overloaded with sugar plums. The most impressive consequence was the ability of Hopkins and Levesque to engage in all that choreographed fisticuffs without missing a note or ever sounding winded.

Dramatic soprano Karen Jesse, the lone professional in the cast and an Oberlin alum, was magnificent as the Witch, commanding the stage from her first entrance. In another of Field's innovations, she was resplendent in her voodoo-fashioned costume of a wide crazy-quilt hoop-skirted dress with huge puffy sleeves, chalk mask makeup, Phyllis Diller fright-wig black hair, and jaunty hat with a feather. She played and sang her part with great gusto, equal measures of smarmy seduction and evil incarnate. No one mourned her passing.

Despite a break in the middle for intermission, the most complete artistic triumph in this thoroughly excellent production was Hänsel and Gretel's lost night in the forest scene. Soprano Victoria Davis sang beautifully as the Sandman, camouflaged in a blanket of leaves. Field's video projections stunningly evoked nightfall with dazzling constellations and a huge rising moon as the chorus of fourteen angels came to protect their sleeping charges. When we returned to our seats, the Dew Sprite, soprano Rebecca Achtenberg, arrived with daybreak, her costume and her singing ablaze with sunrays. She humorously brought the day to life with wake-up taps to the children's heads with a silver hammer, then knocked herself on the noggin a couple of times for good measure.

The singers in smaller roles all acquitted themselves handsomely as well. Mezzo-soprano Hannah Haggerty as Mutter was full of smoke and fury when assailing her lazy children, but plaintive in her prayer soliloquy. Big-voiced baritone Michael Davis was convincing in his drunken bluster and his genuine concern for his lost offspring. Especially charming were the children of the Oberlin Choirsters, a community youth chorus. In their acting and singing, they dug into their roles as the rescued children as if the success of the production hung in the balance. That would be asking too much, but they were deliciously sweet frosting on a scrumptious cake.

Oberlin College & Conservatory | 77 W College Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074 | 440-775-8200