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Comments

Dmitry

I pretty much concur. The production is disappointing, though the set for Act 2 didn't bother me as much as Philip. My main issue is that it seemed very poorly staged. The singers frequently seemed very awkward, most notably Plowright. She looked and moved like a drag queen (not a glamorous one). There was no voice there anymore. Schafer's top - the only part of the voice you can hear - was shrill and sour. Coote looks good as a boy, but the voice is anonymous. Nobody's English was comprehensible. The real winner was Philip Langridge. Act 3 is the only one that seems to have been fully staged - with all the (real) food being eaten and thrown around and mixed together. It's a great gross-out for kids, and Langridge owned that stage. I wish the oven could have been seen from house right, however. Apparently after the witch is pushed into the oven real flames spring up and she can be seen behind the door trying to get out. This was lost on about 50% of the audience. Alan Held, Sasha Cooke and Lisette Oropesa also sounded great. But with a weak Hansel and Gretel, and poor staging - you're in trouble.

Dmitry

Incidentally, that photo of Hansel and Gretel in the "Forest" room is a tad misleading. Those vivid greens on the wallpaper were not nearly that vivid in the house.

Philip

I do think the Met needs to be more careful about being sure that important aspects of its productions can be seen from all parts of the house. As Dmitry points out, the stove in HANSEL could not be seen by people on the right side of the house. Also in IPHIGENIE the sacrificial altar around which so much of the key action centers was invisible to a large number of people sitting on house right.

I'm sure designers don't want to show every scene with everything 'centered' but with the Met auditorium's horseshoe design problems are created when events are presented at the sides of the stage.

Where I sit I am prepared to miss parts of any production and most backdrops, but I think that major plot developments should be visible to everyone who has paid for a ticket.

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