The Met's Hansel and Gretel

I pulled myself out of bed on New Years Day to see the Metropolitan Opera's live high definition broadcast of Hansel and Gretel. It came in at 10am on the West Coast, and who really wants to be up and out of the house that early after New Years Eve, whether or not you were out partying until late..? But I digress.

This Hansel wasn't entirely satisfying. Musically, it was fantastic under Vladimir Jurowski's baton and with voices like Alice Coote and Christine Schafer as Hansel and Gretel (hearing the lush, surround sound was wonderful). But the drab, gray production lacked much of the charm and magic that usually comes with this opera, and being so close to the action with the HD cameras was not ideal. Maybe the production felt different live at the opera house? On screen, the cameras got too close - we didn't get the full effect of the stage pictures, and there were lots of messy shots featuring wet food sliding off a singer's mouth. Blech. An alternative production is not necessarily a bad thing, but Humperdink's score sparkles with joy, so I feel like a staging should reflect at least some of that joy visually.

This production by Richard Jones, which originated at the Welsh National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, is all about lack of food, as Jones explained in a pre-taped intermission segment. Each act is set in a different kitchen to reflect the availability of food: Act 1 is a realistic, run down and detrioriating poor person's kitchen, Act 2's forest is a fantasy, elegant dining room with forest wall paper (the dream with angels that normally occurs in this act becomes a dream with cartoonish chefs delivering a huge feast). Act 3 is inside the witch's house, here an industrial kitchen churning out mass produced treats instead of instead of the usual candy-coated gingerbread house. Hansel and Gretel are children who can't help but be playful children, held back from being obedient by their hunger for food. Their parents are characterized as neglectful and selfish, seeming not to care for the children properly (which makes for an odd moment when they suddenly rush out of the house, concerned that the children will be harmed in the forest).

This barren "no food" thing is interesting conceptually, but it doesn't sustain, nor does it add anything to the opera. Humperdink's version of Hansel and Gretel was deliberately written as a sweet confection, removing some of the darker aspects of the original fairy tale. Much is said in the Met's brochures and online features about how Jones went back and added the darkness, but this amounts only to surface dressing. Without actually changing the score, not much darkness can really be put in, and the production's drabness is constantly at odds with the more light hearted music.

The staging was physically messy, too, with mush and liquid getting slopped and dropped all over the stage. It was a kind of nauseating watching them mix gooey liquids and creams in a blender, stuff it into their faces and spit it back out. Viewing at a distance in the actual theater probably made this relatively OK, but it was gross three stories high. Some of the singers looked uncomfortable with the stage business also: Philip Langridge as the Witch looked self concious and nervous, maybe even unhappy. With other singers, the usual fluidity with stage activity that I'm used to seeing at the Met wasn't really here.

Otherwise, picture was crisp and bright at the The Bridge Cinema DeLuxe on Tuesday, no dropped transmission signals. This movie theater has been the best place so far to watch this broadcast - much cleaner picture than at Alhambra last year. Plus I don't have to drive as far, nor do I have to arrive early because all of the seating is assigned (no mad scramble to hold seats!). The seats themselves are luxurious and comfortable. It's a great experience. The next Met broadcast is Verdi's Macbeth on January 12.

Photos: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera. Top, the chefs in Act 2 inside the movie theater. Second, Alice Coote and Christine Schafer in Act 1. Third, Philip Landridge and Christine Schafer in Act 3.