I loved the Witch <3

Engelbert Humperdinck’s operatic take on the tale “Hansel and Gretel” is filled with some of the best art forms including the lovely and lyrical orchestration. The cast and orchestra of the Met’s Opera’s production made the tale of the hungry siblings and cannibalistic witch even more sumptuous and sweet.

My whole experience of attending this opera has two parts. The first part happened before the intermission when I was trying so hard to keep my interest in the opera because I didn’t turn on the little screen in front of me to understand what the opera singers were singing which made it really boring for me. Although I did love the acting, I could not enjoy to the fullest because I did not know what the actors/singers were saying. After the intermission, when Prof.Perl told me the screens were working, I was able to turn them on and to be honest, that’s when I realized how interesting the opera was. Understanding the funny dialogues and the creative way the singers were singing them was wonderful because on one hand, I was laughing at witch’s funny dialogues and on the other hand, I was appreciating the amount of handwork and creativity that was put into the opera. At the end, I was really engaged into the whole story and I sort of regret how I could not take advantage of the little screens to understand the lyrics for the first half of the opera.

My favorite character in this opera is the witch. I think everything was perfect about her. Her makeup, costume, acting, dialogues (or I should say lyrics), everything was perfect. Although we were supposed to hate the witch at the end, I actually wanted to see more of her because of how beautifully she portrayed the character.

Overall, I would give this opera five stars and I think its totally worth the time and money. Thank you Prof. Perl and Macaulay.