| Humperdinck - Hansel and Gretel (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 9 reviews)
Sales Rank: 14819
Category: DVD
Actors: Christine Schafer, Alice Coote, Philip Langridge, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus
Director: Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)
Publisher: Emi Classics
Studio: Emi Classics
Manufacturer: Emi Classics
Label: Emi Classics
Format: Classical, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 123 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5099920630898
ASIN: B001D6OKV0
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Metropolitan Opera's acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances.
A striking new English-language production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, starring Alice Coote and Christine Schaefer, with tenor Philip Langridge in the role of the Witch. Vladimir Jurowski, one of the world's most sought-after conductors, leads a sensitive account of Humperdinck's enchanting score, and Richard Jones and John Macfarlane provide a staging that is "is tough and dark, sparse and savage, an exploration of deprivation, cruelty and gluttony in a contemporary always-always-land."
-Financial Times
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 YECH!!! November 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First off, it's not the music making or singing that make this such a horrible evening at the opera. It's this psycho, pseudo-Eurotrash production that puts the beloved classic in some weird time and place - we have fish-headed waiters instead of a dream pantomime, a hausenfrau witch and a lot of other weird stuff. True, it's not as godawful as the ENO production of a few years back (that takes place in WWI England, the sandman is a coke-snorting wastrel and the mother and witch are portrayed by the same singer) but I wonderful how awful opera productions have to get before we all scream, Enough!
If you get this one, turn off the picture and just listen to the music. Or better yet, wait for DG to revive the Pioneer Classics DVD of the earlier Met O'Hearn Production.
 A very enjoyable Hansel & Gretel October 16, 2008
I loved everything about this production: first, Vladimir Jurowski's excellent conducting. The cast is uniformly good, but one should mention Philip Langridge in the role of the Witch. He is really outstanding. I don't know why former reviews were irritated by the production. I think it is a funny, original, and brings many insights to the score.
Recommended.
 This innovative staging generally serves Humperdinck well. October 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When this Richard Jones staging of Hansel and Gretel first appeared it took a little getting used to. After all, missing was the mysterious forest, the enticing gingerbread house and the fourteen angels that watch over our vulnerable protagonists.
What replaces these conventions are weird and mysterious images that hew true to the story's sweet sense of adventure yet still remain beautiful within their own aesthetic.
The casting for this production was cleverly effected. Did the Met intentionally cast singers in the adult roles who are all over six feet tall? Whether intended or not, this serves the story well as all the singers inhabit their roles with assurance and a real sense of character.
Christine Schafer and Alice Coote used the long rehearsal period that a new production affords to really gel as a team. Working with director Jones, each one brings a fully conceived character to the fore; Schafer's proud impetuous Gretel is well contrasted to Coote's plucky impish Hansel.
As the two parents, Rosalind Plowright and Alan Held perform very well indeed. My complaint about them has more to do with how director Jones views their characters. In my mind, Peter is a sweet dopey broom merchant, certainly not a wife beater and Gertrude is not the chemically dependent, despondent mess that we have here. By limning their characters thusly, the director brings their concern for the children as well as the ultimate happy ending into doubt.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this production is the realization of the witch by the inestimable Philip Langridge. Imagine Julia Child run amok with a dash of the Marx Brothers and you might get an idea of what this delicious performance by Mr. Langridge is like. Consummately sung and acted, this is a wonderful performance of comic villainy, Margaret Hamilton would be proud.
In the smaller roles of The Sandman and Dew Fairy, Sasha Cooke and Lisette Oropesa do a fine job in conveying their characters supernatural benevolence.
Presiding over the whole undertaking from the pit is the sure hand of Russian maestro Vladimir Jurowski. He is a savvy enough conductor to know that this music needs to be played straight, without the saccharine milking of sentiment that too often comes with performances of this opera.
Fabulous! September 23, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I saw this production at the Met last December and it was fabulous. Don't let unbending traditionalists who believe going to the opera is like going to the museum turn you away from this highly entertaining and extremely well sung performance of H & G. I can't wait to purchase this dvd and relive that magical afternoon at the Met!
 The old production was better September 22, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I saw this new production at the MET and it just didn't work for me. None of the acts worked (although the last act somewhat redeems the show and I thought Philip Langridge did a great job).
This is a children's opera and it was never necessary to "adult it up"; the music already does that, it was always mature, thoughtful, respectful of the opera, never childish or dumbed down. The opera didn't need to be made edgy or raw. This is not the Hansel & Gretel everyone else and I loved and that is a shame. Isn't life already edgy and raw enough? If the 40-year old production needed to be replaced, fine, but the opera is older than that and it was always fine the way it was.
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