Hansel and Gretel

Together with young and old, we dive into the fairy-tale story of Hansel and Gretel —a world that at first seems anything but magical. Poverty and hunger define the family’s daily life. When the mother comes home and finds the brooms untied, the stockings unknitted, and—in the heat of the moment—the milk spilled, she sends the children into the forest to gather strawberries. But there, the Gingerbread Witch is already waiting with her all-too-tempting gingerbread house.

“Crunch, crunch, little one, who’s crunching at my little house?”

Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera retells the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale as an exciting adventure full of fantasy and mysterious powers. Hansel and Gretel get lost in the forest, encounter the Sandman and the Dream Man, dream beneath twinkling stars, and finally come face to face with the sinister witch. But with cleverness, wit, courage, and solidarity, the two manage to outwit her and transform the gloomy place into one of joy, magic, and happy reunion.

In the production by the young Tyrolean director Nada Zimmermann, who makes her Austrian debut with Hansel and Gretel , the work unfolds as an imaginative and playful opera for children and adults. From a fairy-tale play he developed for his own family, Humperdinck crafted a score that combines children’s songs with colorful orchestration and leitmotif-driven storytelling in the tradition of Richard Wagner. The result is music that is as warm-hearted as it is multifaceted—fairy-tale-like, captivating, and full of magical moments—an operatic experience for all who love to be enchanted.