Tale appeals to young and old alike

Eleanor Lang (top) and Callum Blackmore in 'Hansel and Gretel'.

When New Zealand Opera brings Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel to Wanaka in July, don't you dare think it's going to be a retro-pop revival of a Grimm Brothers fairy-tale with a cheery Ten Guitars Maori strum going on in the background.

Wash your ears out! Prepare instead for a lush Wagnerian experience with warm and colourful harmonies and a big Germanic sound, direct from the formidable voice boxes of Ana James, Anna Pierard and Helen Medlyn.

NZ Opera general director Aidan Lang giggles at the recollection of a Welsh newspaper that got its Engelberts muddled up.

"Engelbert Humperdinck was dead a long time before the second Engel was born. There is a wee joke there. When I lived in Wales, a newspaper made exactly that mistake. It does happen,'' he said.

The first Engelbert Humperdinck was a German disciple of the composer Richard Wagner.

He was born at Siegburg on September 1, 1854, and died on September 27, 1921, and enjoyed a very productive and successful musical career between times.

Hansel and Gretel was written for the children of his sister and he presented it to his fianc, Hedwig Taxer, as an engagement present.

The second Engel was born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras, India, on May 2, 1936.

He later changed his name to that of the German composer and became one of Britain's top-selling recording artists with a career spanning more than four decades.

He was sued by the descendants of Humperdinck the German so now goes by the sole name of Engelbert in Europe to avoid confusion.

Mr Lang doesn't find it tiresome to point out the separate worlds occupied by two very different masters of romance, but then why should he?

Like ballet, the world of opera is moving in modern ways to try to connect with a wider audience.

So that means singing in English for an English-speaking audience, something Mr Lang says all composers, including Humperdinck, would have been very pleased about.

"I am sure if you were to ask any composer what they would rather have the audience understand, most would say they want the audience to understand the text . . . When Verdi went to Paris, he wrote French versions of his opera. He didn't expect audiences to listen in Italian,'' he said.

An entirely New Zealand cast and creative team has been signed on.

The director is acclaimed theatre director and actor Michael Hurst (of Hercules and Maddigan's Quest fame) in his first operatic production. Mr Lang approached Hurst and, impressed by his musicality, was excited to get him on board.

"What I look for is a director who is going to respond to the music and also creatively, and especially in intimate theatres to give very real performances . . . The acting will not be opera acting,'' Mr Lang said.

Hurst had grasped the epic scale of the piece, its fairytale elements and spiritual overtone of God looking down, Mr Lang said.

The audience would recognise the music, particularly Evening Prayer and the dance music for Hansel and Gretel, he said.

It would appeal to younger audiences and to adults, with its themes of childhood development, poverty, starvation and the instinct to survive.

The audience needn't expect a full-blown 75-piece Wagner orchestra over which the singers would struggle to be heard in the Lake Wanaka Centre.

"We are doing this piece in a much-reduced orchestration. Seventy-five pieces is a huge orchestra. Obviously, we can't take that around . . . so we have five singers playing six parts and a 17-piece orchestra,'' Mr Lang said.

There would still be the big German sound people would expect from Humperdinck.

"What makes the sound big is not necessarily the numbers but the harmonies within it. It will be there,'' Mr Lang promised.

The Lake Wanaka Centre is the smallest venue on the 15-centre tour between June and August.
The size could pose some constraints on scenery construction but otherwise is not regarded as an issue.

Wanaka also gets two performances of the opera, whereas Dunedin gets none.

For the first time, Timaru gets a NZ Opera performance. Invercargill, Blenheim and Greymouth are also on the South Island itinerary.

The decision to bypass Dunedin, the hometown of rising opera star Ana James, was unfortunate but venues could not be secured.

"It is not really a question of `Why Wanaka, why not Dunedin?' It is more `Why Timaru, why not Dunedin?' Both theatres in Dunedin were not available. It is simply a practical reason . . . They were not available for us and it was very, very galling for us,'' Mr Lang said.

NZ Opera was very keen to return to Wanaka again after enjoying sellout performances there of Don Pasquale two years ago, he said.

South Island dates
The Marlborough Centre, Blenheim: July 17
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch: July 19, 21
Theatre Royal, Timaru: July 23
Civic Theatre, Invercargill: July 25
Lake Wanaka Centre, Wanaka: July 28, 29
Regent Theatre, Greymouth: August 1