Hansel and Gretel  August 27, 2005 A dated but enduring work . .
. Tiffany Speight and Sarah Castle in Hansel and Gretel.  Photo:
Ben Rushton  Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck Opera Australia
Opera House, August 25 Reviewed by Peter McCallum.
Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel ought to be for children, so it
was delightful to see a few of the very young at the opening,
and even more delightful to see they quite liked it.  For my
inner child there were two touching moments. The first was the
pantomime at the end of the first part, where the children fall
asleep and dream of a picnic blessed with food and parental
love. Suddenly angels appear backlit in a spotlit glow, the
mother dies and the picnic dissolves.  The second was the final
children's chorus based on the hymn first heard in the overture
and later used for the children's prayer.  The melody deviates
and rises climactically to the fourth scale degree, and the
sound of the Children's Chorus on that was superb.  There were,
of course, other beautiful soun