Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Engelbert Humperdinck's music for "Hansel and Gretel" is such an eclectic and cinematic composition that to hear it is to take an evocative ride through your own past. I variously found myself back in my school choir, walking alone through a fairground and recalling the time when my loving father once left me alone in a museum for a few minutes too long. Few other works have so combined folkic whimsy and emotional trauma, but then Hansel and Gretel are, I suppose, the poster siblings for such things."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...If it all sounds a little grim, well, that’s the point. “Hansel and Gretel” is, after all, a harrowing story, and as this opera and particularly this interpretation make clear, hunger and its pernicious effects are a central theme throughout."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Music Director Emeritus Sir Andrew Davis conducts with his usual charm and cheer. Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children's Choir) helps bring down the house during the finale, when Gretel breaks the witch's spell and the children come back to life. It's a splendid ending to a most enjoyable opera that is now one of my favorites. I can't wait to introduce my own children to Hansel and Gretel when they are a bit older."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Words like masterpiece and masterful performance are hackneyed in today's society. Instead, people over-emphasize them to a grander scale, diluting the intent of words meant to separate the grandiose from the somewhat good. However, after seeing Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, I can confidently say that it's a masterpiece and masterfully performed. Sung in German with English subtitles, this riveting opera production that debuted 20 years ago is a master class of great performances, from the impressive orchestra, superior singing, and amazing costumes."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...An opera that's fun for families? It could happen. The delightfully named composer Engelbert Humperdinck wrote music for his sister Adelheid Wette's adaptation of Hansel and Gretel in 1893, and it's been popular in performance ever since. With a familiar story that's a little scary and morbidly funny as well as a score that is much richer than anyone expected or demanded for this subject matter (Humperdinck was an apprentice to Richard Wagner), the opera is a solid basis for all sorts of fanciful designs and exciting performances. A production originally directed by Richard Jones is now playing at the Lyric Opera graced by multitalented singing actors, many making their Lyric debuts or playing their first major roles on that stage, and conducted by Lyric veteran Sir Andrew Davis."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...Fairy tales do come true, but sometimes they arrive on the stage in the most fantastical way. An ideal example of just how wonderful such a transformation can be is now on stage at the Lyric Opera House, where a production of Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" - with a libretto by Adelheid Wette, based on the ever-popular story by the Brothers Grimm - proves to be an altogether richly imaginative dramatic, musical and visual treat."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...The story of Hansel and Gretel is a textbook Hero’s Journey when they battle the evil characters and learn about their own inner strength and wit to make their way back home. Fairy tale witches were the stuff of nightmares and that was the point. The stories were meant as morality tales: Always obey your parents and be pious in all things. I like this take on it, where the children use their intelligence more than convenient piety. It is great fun with brilliant music played exquisitely. The singers are the full package of great voices and full-tilt acting. Everyone is having a great time on the Lyric stage and I highly recommend that you get in on the fun."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Clocking in at about two hours, not including intermission, Hansel and Gretel feels like a perfect bite-sized opera. It balances both the grotesque and fantasy with an artful touch, never veering too far in one direction or the other. It would be a good pick for those looking for an easy to follow opera with eye-catching designs."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...The Lyric Orchestra was superbly conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, who returns for his first operatic production since he retired as Lyric's Music Director in 2021. As always he teased out musical lines you have never noticed before despite how many times you've heard the score and each emphasis added to the production. The whole opera was sonically superb. During the opening night, Sir Andrew was named the Lyric's Music Director Emeritus."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The spectacular ending of the piece is a childlike reworking of the redemption music from Wagner's "Parsifal," complete with a children's chorus. This time around the chorus was United Voices Chicago, formerly Chicago Children's Choir, and they really rose to the occasion."
