Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 6 - Hansel and Gretel

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Additional support is provided by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Production Circle. Co-production between Lyric Opera of Chicago and Welsh National Opera. Co-production originally made possible by the Vance Family Fund,with additional funding from BP America Inc. Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline,American Airlines. APPROXIMATE TIMINGS Acts 1 and 2 1 hour 10 minutes Intermission 25 minutes Act 3 45 minutes Total 2 hours 20 minutes ACT I In the broom-maker’s house Hansel complains he is hungry. Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbor has given for the family’s supper. The children dance. Their mother returns and wants to know why they have got so little work done. She accidentally spills the milk and chases the children out into the woods to pick strawberries. Their father returns home drunk. He brings out the food he has bought, then asks where the children have gone. The mother tells him that she has sent them into the woods. He tells her about the Witch and that the children are in danger. They go out into the woods to look for them. ACT II In the woods Hansel picks strawberries. Hansel and Gretel hear a cuckoo singing and eat the strawberries. Soon they have eaten every one. In the sudden silence of the wood, Hansel admits to Gretel that he has lost the way. The children grow frightened. The Sandman comes to bring them sleep, sprinkling sand over their eyes. The children say their evening prayer. In a dream, they see 14 angels. INTERMISSION ACT III The gingerbread house The Dew Fairy comes to waken the children. Gretel wakes Hansel, and they see the gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch. The Witch decides to fatten Hansel up. The oven is hot. Gretel breaks the Witch’s spell and sets Hansel free. When the Witch asks her to look in the oven, she pretends she doesn’t know how—the Witch must show her. When the Witch peers into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door. The oven explodes. The gingerbread children come back to life. The mother and father find the children, and all express gratitude for their salvation. Reprinted courtesy Welsh National Opera PRODUCTION SPONSOR Synopsis TIME | Once upon a ... PLACE | A forest near the Ilsenstein, a sinister rock that in German folklore was said to be the home of witches.