Hansel and Gretel

Together, young and old alike immerse themselves in the fairy-tale story of Hansel and Gretel - a world that initially seems anything but magical. Poverty and hunger define the family’s daily life. When the mother returns home to find the brooms untied and the stockings unknitted - and then, in the heat of the moment, the milk gets spilled - she sends the children into the forest to gather strawberries. Yet waiting there is the witch with her all-too-tempting gingerbread house.

«Nibble, nibble, little mouse, who is nibbling at my house?»

Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera retells the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale as a thrilling adventure filled with imagination and mysterious forces. Hansel and Gretel lose their way in the forest, encounter the Sandman and the Dew Fairy, dream beneath twinkling stars, and finally come face-to-face with the eerie witch. Yet, through cleverness, wit, courage, and solidarity, the pair manages to outsmart her and transform that gloomy place into a realm of joy, enchantment, and happy reunion.

In this production by young Tyrolean director Nada Zimmermann - marking her Austrian debut - the work unfolds as an imaginative, playful opera for children and adults. Humperdinck crafted the score from a fairy-tale play originally created for his own family, blending children’s songs with rich orchestration and the leitmotif-driven storytelling tradition of Richard Wagner. The result is music that is as warm-hearted as it is complex-fairy-tale-like, stirring, and full of magical moments - an operatic experience for anyone who loves to be enchanted.

program

Hänsel und Gretel

Märchenspiel in drei Bildern von Engelbert Humperdinck

Familienoper in deutscher Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln

Place

Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck (English: Tyrolean State Theatre) is the state theatre in Innsbruck, Austria, located near the historic Altstadt (Old Town) section of the city. The theatre is surrounded by Imperial Hofburg, the Hofgarten, and SOWI Faculty of the University of Innsbruck. The main theatre has about 800 seats and the studio theatre in the basement has around 250. Plays, operas, operettas, musicals and dance theatre are performed at the theatre.