Newcastle Magic and Mischief from Opera North

Published: 15 November 2016
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Christina Cunningham's design for the Witch in Hansel and Gretel

Opera North has announced the three dark fairy tales which comprise its next Newcastle season: The Snow Maiden (Rimsky-Korsakov), Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) and Cinderella (Rossini).

In The Snow Maiden, the young Snow Maiden, the daughter of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty, sung by Irish soprano Aoife Miskelly, wants nothing more than to live amongst humans, after meeting a shepherd boy, Lel (Heather Lowe). But she hides a tragic secret: her heart is made of ice and, if she falls in love, it will melt.

This will be the first time in over 60 years that the opera has been performed in the UK and director John Fulljames has reworked the storyline in a contemporary setting, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

Hansel and Gretel also has a dark twist in this story of two children lost in the woods. The music evokes the contrasting worlds of the story, from the daily struggle for survival of an impoverished family, to the world of the forest, both idyllic and full of danger; home to the terrifying Witch and her tempting gingerbread house.

This production features one of Britain’s leading dramatic sopranos, Susan Bullock CBE, in the dual role of the Witch and the children’s mother, alongside Katie Bray as Hansel and Fflur Wyn as Gretel.

In director Edward Dick’s new production, the action on stage includes hand-held cameras and live video.

The third opera in the fairy tale season, Cinderella (La Cenerentola), strikes a romantic note with dance woven into the fabric of the music and this contemporary new production opens with Cinderella scrubbing the floor of a ballroom dance school. In Rossini’s work, it is music rather than magic that transforms Cinderella into a princess and enables her to outwit her stepfather Don Magnifico (Henry Waddington) and two cruel stepsisters.

This new take on the Cinderella story is directed by director and choreographer Aletta Collins, with two young international stars taking the lead roles. Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta is Cinderella and fast-rising South African tenor Sunnyboy Dladla is her prince, Don Ramiro.

Performance dates at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal are:

  • 1 March at 7PM
    Hansel and Gretel

  • 2 March at 11AM (schools matinée*)
    Hansel and Gretel

  • 2 March at 7PM
    Cinderella

  • 3 March at 7PM
    The Snow Maiden

  • 4 March at 2PM
    Cinderella

  • 4 March at 7PM
    Hansel and Gretel

*Schools matinée performances will not be on sale to the general public.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

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