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James Janssen, Music Director
Sally Craige Christensen, Stage Director
Mark Crayton, Production Coordinator
Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church
2120 Lincoln Street
Evanston IL 60201
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Friday, March 11, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Cast
Gretel Marnie Baylouny
Hansel Molly Clementz
Mother Josephine Stracek
Father Jeffrey Goldberg
Witch Karlos Piñero-Mercado
Sandman Scott Bass
Dew Fairy Jade Hardy
Chorus Soprano Kjersti Cooper, AddieRose
Forstman, Allison Mann
Chorus Alto Kiley Korey, Angela Torres-Kutkuhn
Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel)
Libretto by Adelheide Wette
English Version by Tom Hammond
Music by Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)
First performed December 23, 1893
Orchestral Reduction by Pocket Publications
Synopsis
Act 1
Scene 1: At home
Gretel stitches a stocking, and Hansel is making a broom. Gretel
sings to herself as she works. Hansel mocks her, singing to the
same tune a song about how hungry he is. He wishes for mother to
come home. Gretel tells him to be quiet and reminds him of what
father always says: "In the darkest hour of grief, Heaven above
will send relief." Hansel complains that one cannot eat words, and
Gretel cheers him up by telling him a secret: A neighbor has given
mother a jug of milk, and tonight she will make a custard pie for
them to eat. Hansel, excited, tastes the cream on the top of the
milk. Gretel scolds him and tells him he should get back to work.
Hansel says that he does not want to work, he would rather dance.
Gretel agrees, and they begin to dance around.
Scene 2
Mother enters, and she is furious when she finds that Hansel and
Gretel have not been working. As she threatens to beat them with a
stick, she knocks over the jug of milk. Mother sends Hansel and
Gretel to the haunted Ilsenstein forest to look for strawberries.
Alone, she expresses her sorrow that she is unable to feed her
children, and asks Heaven for help.
Scene 3
From far off, father sings about how hungry he is. He bursts into
the house, roaring drunk, and kisses mother roughly. She pushes
him away and scolds him for being drunk. He surprises her by
taking from his pack a feast: ham, butter, flour, sausages, eggs,
turnips, onions, and a quarter pound of coffee. He explains to her
that beyond the forest, it is almost time for a festival, and
everyone is cleaning in preparation. He went from house to house
and sold his brooms at the highest prices. As father and mother
celebrate, he suddenly stops and asks where the children are.
Mother changes the subject to the broken jug, and after she
finishes telling him the story, he laughs, then asks again after
the children. She tells him that they are in the Ilsenstein
forest. Suddenly alarmed, father tells her that the forest is
where the evil "Gobbling Witch" dwells. She lures children with
cakes and sweets, pushes them into her oven, where they turn to
gingerbread, and then eats them. Father and mother rush into the
forest to search for their children.
Act 2
This act is directly linked to the first, and begins with an
interlude known as the "Witches' Ride."
Scene 1: In the forest. Sunset.
Gretel weaves a crown of flowers as she sings to herself. Hansel
searches for strawberries. As Gretel finishes her crown, Hansel
fills his basket. Gretel tries to put the crown on Hansel, but,
saying that boys do not play with things like these, he puts it on
her head instead. He tells her that she looks like the Queen of
the Wood, and she says that if that's so, then he should give her
a bouquet, too. He offers her the strawberries. They hear a cuckoo
calling, and they begin to eat the strawberries. As the basket
empties, they fight for the remaining strawberries, and finally,
Hansel grabs the basket and dumps the leftovers in his mouth.
Gretel scolds him and tells him that mother will be upset. She
tries to look for more, but it is too dark for her to see. Hansel
tries to find the way back, but he cannot. As the forest darkens,
Hansel and Gretel become scared, and think they see something
coming closer. Hansel calls out, "Who's there?" and a chorus of
echoes calls back, "He's there!" Gretel calls, "Is someone there?"
and the echoes reply, "There!" Hansel tries to comfort Gretel, but
as a little man walks out of the forest, she screams in terror.
Scene 2
The little man turns out to be the Sandman. He calms the
frightened children down by telling them that he loves them
dearly, and that he has come to put them to sleep. He puts grains
of sand into their eyes, and as he leaves they can barely keep
their eyes open. Gretel reminds Hansel to say their evening
prayer, and after they pray, they fall asleep on the forest floor.
Scene 3
In a dream pantomime, fourteen angels appear and arrange
themselves around the children to protect them as they sleep. They
are presented with a gift. The forest is filled with light as the
curtain falls.
Act 3
Scene 1: In the forest.
The Dew Fairy comes to wake the children. She sprinkles dew on
them, sings of how wonderful it is to be alive in the morning with
the beauty of the forest surrounding her, and leaves as the
children stir. Gretel wakes first, and wakes the sleepy Hansel.
They tell each other of their mutual dream, of angels protecting
them as they slept.
Scene 2
Suddenly they notice behind them a glorious gingerbread house. The
roof is slated with cakes, the windows are of licorice, and the
walls are decorated with cookies. On the left side is an oven, on
the right side is a cage, and around it is a fence of gingerbread
children. Unable to resist temptation, they take a little bit of
the house and nibble on it.
Scene 3
As the children nibble, a voice calls out, "Nibbling, nibbling,
mousekin! Who's nibbling on my housekin?" Hansel and Gretel decide
that the voice must have been the wind, and they begin to eat the
house. As Hansel breaks off another piece of the house, the voice
again calls out, "Nibbling, nibbling, mousekin! Who's nibbling on
my housekin?" Hansel and Gretel ignore the voice, and continue
eating. The witch comes out of the house and catches Hansel with a
rope. As Hansel tries to escape, the witch explains that she likes
nothing better than to feed children sweets. Hansel and Gretel are
suspicious of the witch, so Hansel frees himself from the rope and
he and Gretel begin to run away.
The witch takes out her wand and calls out, "Stop!" Hansel and
Gretel are frozen to the spot where they stand. Using the wand,
the witch leads Hansel to the cage. The witch leaves him stiff and
slow of movement. She tells Gretel to be reasonable, and then the
witch goes inside to fetch raisins and almonds with which to
fatten Hansel. Hansel whispers to Gretel to pretend to obey the
witch. The witch returns, and waving her wand, forces Gretel to
dance, then tells her to go into the house and set the table.
Hansel pretends to be asleep, and the witch, overcome with
excitement, describes how she plans to cook and eat Gretel.
The witch wakes up Hansel and has him show her his finger. He puts
out a bone instead, and she feels it instead. Disappointed that he
is so thin, the witch calls for Gretel to bring out raisins and
almonds. As the witch tries to feed Hansel, Gretel steals the wand
from the witch's pocket. Waving it towards Hansel, Gretel whispers
a version of the spell she overheard the witch recite. As the
witch turns around and wonders at the noise, Hansel discovers that
he can move freely again.
The witch tells Gretel to peek inside the oven to see if the
gingerbread is done. Hansel softly calls out to her to be careful.
Gretel pretends that she does not know what the witch means. The
witch tells her to lift herself a little bit and bend her head
forward. Gretel says that she doesn't understand, then asks the
witch to demonstrate. The witch, frustrated, opens the oven and
leans forward. Hansel springs out of the cage, and he and Gretel
shove the witch into the oven. They dance. The oven begins to
crackle and the flames burn fiercely, and with a loud crash it
explodes.
Scene 4
Around Hansel and Gretel, the gingerbread children have turned
back into humans. They are asleep and unable to move, but they
sing to Hansel and Gretel, asking to be touched. Hansel is afraid,
but Gretel strokes one on the cheek, and he wakes up, but is still
unable to move. Hansel and Gretel touch all the children, then
Hansel takes the witch's wand and, waving it, calls out the magic
words, freeing the children from the spell.
Scene 5
Father is heard in the distance, calling for Hansel and Gretel. He
and mother enter and embrace Hansel and Gretel. Meanwhile, the
gingerbread children pull out from the ruins of the oven the
witch, who has turned into gingerbread. Father gathers Hansel,
Gretel and the other children around and tells them to look at
this miracle. He explains that this is heaven's punishment for
evil deeds and reminds them, "In the darkest hour of grief, Heaven
above will send relief."
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