Reviews from December's "Hansel and Gretel"

Happy New Year! Here are a round up of the reviews of our last production of Hansel and Gretel. If you enjoyed the show and would like to send us some feedback, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us here! 

"The two leads – Laura Kelly's Hansel and Danae Eleni's Gretel – offer assured vocalism, with Kelly's rounded mezzo a particular pleasure... most successfully is in Kelvin Lim's expert pianism and keen musical direction. Realising a richly orchestrated late-Romantic score on a single keyboard is a major challenge, but Lim brings out Humperdinck's folksy charm and glamorous quasi-symphonic textures with aplomb."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/27/hansel-gretel-review-kings-head 

"Laura Kelly’s Hansel is a sulky boy, a reluctant dancer at first; Danae Eleni’s domestic Gretel chides and cajoles him. The dance sequence, so often twee and tedious, is full of fun and character here. They both sing their roles beautifully, their two voices, carefully tempered to the tiny venue, blend well. And they act every second of the score – gobbling strawberries, scoffing marshmallows, licking up the cream, sharing a broomstick to fly off home at the end. I enjoyed Ian Massa-Harris’s Little Britain witch, too, creepily menacing in his cardie and specs, greedily eyeing the oven-ready lost children... Janet A N Fischer made a believable mother, scolding one moment, desperately praying the next... The immortals made the most of their brief moments – Rosalind Coad’s Sandman, with her gold dust and nightcap, and especially Alexandra Stevenson’s hungover party-girl Dew Fairy, clutching her golden shoes – a lovely conceit."
http://www.thepublicreviews.com/hansel-and-gretel-kings-head-theatre-london/ 

"Danae Eleni delivered a clear-voiced, bright Gretel... Laura Kelly’s fruity mezzo... Ian Wilson-Pope was particularly clarion"
http://recitative.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/hansel-and-gretel-at-the-kings-head/ 

"Kelvin Lim's handsome account of the fiendish piano reduction... Humperdinck's Wagnerian fairy tale super-straight until the entrance of Ian Massa-Harris's impossibly glamorous, unnervingly lascivious Witch. Camp as Christmas? I'll say."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/die-meistersinger-von-nrnberg-royal-opera-house-londonhansel-and-gretel-kings-head-theatre-london-6286444.html

"Reynolds's new translation works well, his direction is constantly inventive and he brings out some splendid acting performances from his young cast. Especially notable were Katie Slater and Rebecca Dale as the children, bringing out a wide range of naughtiness alternating with trying to be good, sibling rivalry alternating with love, and just plain hunger. Dale plays Gretel's dream in Act II in slow motion dumb show as she turns the milk from the restored jug into angels' wings for her mother and father: it was a remarkable piece of theatre which bowled me over...  Oliver Gibbs as the Father, who has a huge voice which will undoubtedly be filling much larger spaces...  Rosalind Coad sang beautifully..."
http://www.bachtrack.com/review-hansel-and-gretel-open-door-opera

"It’s rare to find Opera as fun and accessible as Open Door Opera’s take on Humperdinck’s classic. Ian Massa Harris’s Witch... sinister character comedy that danced dangerously from Better Midler to Myra Hindley reaching a crescendo with  a show stopping spell. Rosalind Coad’s Sandman and Alexandra Stevenson’s boozy Dew Fairy both bringing strong performances and fresh dimensions to the evening"

http://www.g-life.co.uk/#/reviews/4560651396