A wonderfully crafted confection, “Hansel and Gretel,” now at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, is a charming spin on a tale with a happy ending that will charm kids, adults, whole families, and especially the young at heart.
Indeed, the Lyric’s production of the beloved tale, revived by Eric Einhorn from the British production by Richard Jones, overflows with an abundance of evocative imagery, inventive storybook sets, and colorful costuming that provides an exuberant escape from the day-to-day dreariness of Chicago’s gray winter weather.
The opera, by Engelbert Humperdinck, who, with the help of his sister Adelheid Wette (who wrote the libretto), adapted it in 1891 from the German Brothers Grimm fairytale….