A group of BBCM children – accompanied by Agnes Kory – attended the school matinee performance of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel at Royal Opera House. Below see their reviews (of various lengths) of the event.

I didn’t like the naughty witch because she was a baddy. She tries to push Hansel and Gretel in the oven and then Hansel and Gretel push the witch in the oven and she turns into a big cake. I did like Hansel and Gretel. I liked ‘ra la la la la’ song, their Daddy sings it. I liked the dew fairy because she’s a fairy and she puts magic on them and she looked like a princess. The angels looked like butterflies. They had fairy lights on their wings. When there’s a witch in our house, we need to push the witch in the oven. You have to sit still in the theatre because if you move the theatre will be very sad.
Noor Hashmi-Lambert, age 3

'I liked the Opera House. It was very big, bigger even than an elephant. And it was very beautiful - it was red and gold: Christmas-y colours and also the colours of the Chinese New Year. The seats were very nice and comfortable and I could see really well. My favourite songs were: the children's one near to the beginning, which I recognised from my music class; the one where the father comes home singing 'ra la la la la' really loudly (he'd had too much beer!); and the bit where the witch tells the children off for eating her house ('you naughty little mousies, nibbling at my housie'). I also liked the Sandman's song, but it made me sleepy, and I had a little nap. My daddy said I missed the very nice bit with angels, but I saw it on TV later. (My daddy said he's had nice naps at the opera too.) I was happy the children who got put in the oven by the witch did not really die, and were happy at the end. I listened to the first part of the opera again on the radio later. I would really like to go to the opera again. It makes me want to learn to sing and read music.
Aria Watts, age 4

I found it difficult because they were singing and not doing things I know. I knew the story but I couldn't understand what they were saying and I wanted to understand. I listened to the music before but after seeing the opera when we watched it on television and Dad read me the words, I enjoyed it more. I like the colours at the opera house, red and gold, and the pink lions on the curtains. I liked Hansel's dungarees. I liked the part where the dad comes home all happy.
Miles Camilleri, age 5

Hansel and Gretel were having fun when they threw all their pillows onto the floor at the beginning. I think I loved the song ‘ra la la la’ that their Daddy sang. I thought the witch was quite funny because she had a bit of red on her hair. It was strange when Hansel and Gretel got sent into the forest because mummies don’t normally do that. It was quite naughty of the Daddy to be drinking so much beer, but it was good that he told the Mummy all about the witches in the forest, because then she knew about the witches and then she had a plan to find Hansel and Gretel. I liked the different music that was in the forest. I liked the sandman music because I loved the way that the sandman looked. The angels’ wings were beautiful. If it had been me, I would have been very scared in the witch’s house. I thought the witch going into the oven was quite funny. I loved it when all the children turned back into real children. I was really hungry when I had the ice cream. I really love the opera.
Amaan Hashmi-Lambert, age 5

It was a very busy and exciting day for me because I had the day off school to watch Hansel and Gretel at the opera house and I had to rush back to school afterwards to perform in my drama club’s production of the Wizard of Oz. When I arrived at the opera house my friends from my music class were waiting outside and we all went inside together. I really liked looking at the costumes in the glass cases. We sat together as a group, I was in between Aria and Abigail and then the orchestra started playing. I enjoyed the overture very much because it had music that was fast and happy, and quiet and sad. Then the curtains opened and we saw Hansel and Gretel. I could not understand the language although there was writing above the stage and I could read some of the words. I could also understand what was happening from the actions of the people on stage and because I had learned about the story before. I recognized the music when Gretel was teaching Hansel how to dance because we had performed this piece at a concert given by my music group. This music was fast and happy. At other times the music was scary like when the children were in the forest, when the witch appeared and when we saw the gingerbread children. My favourite part was with the Dew fairy because she sang beautifully. I also liked the music when Gretel pushed the witch into the oven and it meant that Hansel and Gretel had won. The story had a happy ending when Hansel and Gretel freed the children and the mum and dad found them. I recognized Peter the dad’s singing as I had heard his ra-la-la-la, ra-la-la-la before during the opera. I had a good time and would like to go the opera every day.
Sophie Chin, age 5

Last week we went to the opera to see Hansel and Gretel with Agnes. We didn't see the people playing the instruments. At the beginning the music was flowing into the sky, so that everyone could hear it. The actors acted really well, it felt real. The singing was very grown-up. The people who sang were very good singers. The music felt different to the music I listened to on the disc. The story of the opera was a little different from the Hansel and Gretel story. The mum was their real mother and she was not mean and evil. The children were sent to pick some strawberries and they got lost. The parents didn't want them to be lost. Sad and loud music was playing when the children realised that they were lost. They found a little house made of cookies and gingerbread. The children had eaten some of the gingerbread. The witch came out; she had a walking frame and blond hair. She had a fridge full with kids. The kids were hanging on a rope. At the end of the opera Hansel and Gretel freed all the little kids. Boys and girls, there were lots of them. One side was a child and the other side was gingerbread. The children went around the witch's house. Everyone was singing. The parents found Hansel and Gretel. Everyone was happy. Everyone bowed and the witch came out of the oven, too. Afterwards we clapped for a long time.
Abigail Aradi-Posylkin, age 6

Hansel and Gretel is an opera about two children (Hansel and Gretel) who leave their house because their mother gets angry at them for breaking their jug of milk and tells them to go out into the forest to pick berries. They end up at a witch’s house made of sweets. The witch (Rosina Sweet-tooth) takes them inside and tries to get Gretel on her side as she feeds Hansel lots of stuff to make him fat, so she can eat him. But Gretel saves Hansel. The witch tells Gretel to sit in the oven, but Gretel asks her to show her how it’s done first. The witch sits down in the oven, and then Gretel pushes her inside. Then they all celebrate, and Hansel and Gretel’s parents, who had gone out looking for them, finally get to the house. Then they all eat the witch, who had turned into a cake inside the oven. There was a lot of tuneful music, especially the overture at the beginning before everyone started to sing. The best part was when Hansel and Gretel were play- fighting with each other at the beginning. I liked the dad better than the mom, because he was not as mean, but my favourite character was the Sandman, because of the spooky way he floated around when he walked. He also had the best costume of everyone because it was like a little person attached to a hidden real person. The witch was not that scary, but it was pretty scary when they pushed her into the oven because of all the shouting and cupboards exploding open. Overall it was a great opera.
Nirav Mukherjee Tomasi, age 6

Hansel and Gretel was a good opera because they changed it from the story book and made it more believable and exciting. In Act One my favourite song was the one where they were singing and dancing in the bedroom. Afterwards Gretel was very naughty and took the milk from the kitchen. Then Hansel had a taste of the milk and Gretel followed. Suddenly their mother Gertrud slammed the door open and found that the two children had done no work at all. In anger their mother sent them into the forest to collect berries. I failed to see Act Two because I fell asleep. In Act Three the witch took Hansel and Gretel into her house where she had two magic ovens in which she cooked the children that she trapped into gingerbread children. At the end Gretel pressed the witch into the magic oven and ate her when she was cooked. I thought that the music was played very well. I liked it most when the children at the end came out and sang. My favourite singer was the lady who played Hansel. I enjoyed the performance of Hansel and Gretel and look forward to seeing another opera.
Alexander Leonce-Weekes, age 7

When I went to see Hansel and Gretel at The Royal Opera House, I was very excited. I thought that the theatre was beautiful. We had excellent seats so that we could easily see the stage. It was the first time I had been to an opera although I listen to opera at home and I like it. As the curtains went up, I was amazed to see Hansel and Gretel's house and the scenery made it look like a fairytale. I enjoyed the singing and acting and my favourite character was the Witch. The actor who played the Witch was Ann Murray and I really liked the way she laughed! From where I was sitting I could hear the orchestra but I couldn't see the players or the conductor. But it was very exciting to hear the music so clearly. I remembered the music and the story from listening to it at home. You could tell that Hansel and Gretel were poor because their costumes were black and brown. Sometimes the actors didn't move around enough and Hansel and Gretel should have really run away from the Witch. Also, sometimes the singers sang so softly that I couldn't hear them which was a bit disappointing. It would be very interesting to see another performance so that I could compare it with this one.
Zane Matthew, age 7

On the 8th of December our music teacher took us to the Royal Opera House to see Hansel & Gretel. We had really good seats with a great view of the stage. The reason Hansel & Gretel was really good was because Hansel did very well acting as a boy, seeing as the actor was a woman. Plus the scenes and the singing were excellent. It was quite funny when Hansel and Gretel were dancing because they were doing the roly-poly with their arms and things like that. But I liked the music that went with the dancing. Peter (the father) did very well being drunk but he came with Tesco bags! Hansel and Gretel pretended to be children brilliantly, especially in the forest when they were being scared. The forest was one of the best scenes because it looked so realistic! And then the Sandman came and he looked funny. The dream scene was good because 14 angels came on stage, plus lots of them were animals. When I listened to the music at home, I expected the gingerbread house to be big. But I was a bit disappointed because it was only about knee-high. The singing was brilliant, especially the dancing song (again!). The witch did look like a normal person, but she gave you the idea that she was evil almost straight away. Inside the witch’s house the hanging children were a bit freaky, but in the end they ate the gingerbread witch and lived happily ever after.
Conor Reynolds, age 8

When Agnes took us to see Hansel & Gretel I was very excited and also curious on what Hansel & Gretel was going to be like in opera and on stage, and if it would be like the story book. I read the booklet and listened to the music that goes with the opera. The first act was different to the story book because it explained why the mother sent the children into the forest. I enjoyed Act One because it wasn’t sad and depressing. Even though the children were hungry they were able to sing and dance. Act Two was my favourite act. I loved the ending with all the angels granting sweet and cheerful thoughts in the Hansel & Gretel dream. Act Three got very scary when the witch started to cook little children into child-size gingerbread men. In the end Gretel shoved the witch into her magic oven that turns people into gingerbread men and eventually the witch turned into a gingerbread man herself, which was fantastic. I really enjoyed this performance.
Joshua Leonce-Weekes, age 8

Hansel and Gretel was an opera that was exciting and had a good story line. I could tell that both Hansel and Gretel were sung and acted by women because they both had high and clear voices. To be honest I thought that Gretel had a better voice because it was clearer and more in tune. I realised that sometimes the same melody came in, once it was in about the middle of the story and later it came back in probably the end. My favourite place was when the witch sang: ‘who is nibbling at my house?’ because it was sung in a cheeky way that made it funny. The orchestra was at the bottom of the stage so you could not see, so that was a shame. The orchestra is always very useful in operas, ballets etc. because it changes the whole mood of the audience. When it came to the place that Hansel and Gretel were in the witches house I thought it was particularly helpful because it made the atmosphere gloomy. It was so exciting to see a great opera from such a nice seat. I enjoyed the experience very much and hope to see more operas in the future.
Kay Howard-Shigeno, age 9

We went to the amazing opera Hansel and Gretel (written by Engelbert Humperdinck) at the fantastic Royal Opera House.
Our seats were red and velvet and as soft as a blanket! We had a brilliant view.
The opera is about a young boy (Hansel) and his pretty sister (Gretel), who live in a small cottage with their father and mother in the middle of the woods. They are very poor and starving hungry. The children go out in the deep dark forest to gather berries for the family to eat but they get lost. They come across the Sandman who puts them to sleep. They are protected by angels.
They wake up and see a gingerbread house with gingerbread children around it. They start to eat the house. A witch comes out of the house and catches Hansel. She tries to bake him into a gingerbread man but Hansel and Gretel push the witch into the oven. The witch dies and the gingerbread children become human. Hansel and Gretel’s mum and dad find them. The witch has turned into gingerbread in the oven. They all live happily ever after.
The house which Hansel and Gretel and their family lived in was a small colourful cottage in the middle of the woods which looks like a dolls house but it’s a lot bigger than one. The forest is extremely spooky. In it there are lots of trees so many it would be hard to see what’s in front of you. The gingerbread house was edible! On it was yummy gingerbread with icing and chocolate on top. It’s too tempting not to eat it!
THE MAIN CHARACTERS
HANSEL: kind, caring, thoughtful but a bit greedy.
GRETEL: pretty, responsible and also caring.
MUM AND DAD: hard working, sometimes nasty and fed up.
GINGERBREAD WITCH: mean, unwanted and fat.
SANDMAN: kind, small and dressed in white.
ANGELS: good, nice and beautiful.
THE MUSIC
ORCHESTRA: The orchestra was fantastic! I couldn’t hear one mistake in the music, it was all perfect!
CONDUCTOR: Though I didn’t see him conduct he must have done a good job, because the orchestra was exactly in time!
THE SINGING: The singing was absolutely amazing! It was all in tune and in time I think. As it was in German we all had to look at the screen above us which told us the words in English although I knew the characters’ personality from the way they sang!
THE ACTING
The acting was very, very good. It was so easy to see what each character was doing each time they did something! If I missed one of the lines on the screen I could quickly and easily pick it up from the acting! The acting suited the singing well and also suited the orchestra’s music.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS’ COSTUMES
GRETEL’S: pretty, smart and like a dolly’s.
HANSEL’S: smart and like a dolly’s.
MUM’S: a little bit pretty but dull.
DAD’S: smart (A SUITE)
GINGERBREAD WITCH’S: ugly!!!!
THE SANDMAN’S: white and pretty
THE ANGELS’: white, sparkly and beautiful
CONCLUSION
Over all I thought everything was excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hollie Gold, age 9

I went - with some of my music class and my music teacher, Agnes- to the Royal Opera House on the 8th December. It was the best opera I had seen.
Characters:
The main characters were: Hansel and Gretel (of course!), the parents, and the witch. Other character included the angels, the Dew Fairy and the Sandman. The Sandman was very funny because he was very short, and floated through the air like a puppet, only it was a real person.
Basic Plot:
In a nutshell, what happened is that there is a family who is very poor and are not able to afford food to feed the children. The mother sends the children out into the woods to look for food, but what she doesn’t know is that there is a witch (hexen) who inhabits the forest. While Hansel and Gretel are in the forest they see a big gingerbread house, which they go to nibble at. The witch (but they don’t know she is a witch) lures them in by saying she has lots more food in the house. They go on in, oblivious to what the witch is plotting. The witch traps Hansel in a big cage and feeds him lots of cakes and sweets, because what she wants to do is fatten him up to put him into her special oven to turn him into gingerbread. She wants Gretel in gingerbread as well, so she intends to push her into the oven. But Gretel pretends to be stupid, so she asks the witch to show her how to turn on the oven. While the witch bends over to turn on the oven, Gretel quickly pushes her in. The witch turns to gingerbread and they eat her and then live happily ever after. I think eating the witch is a bit excessive, but then I do think she deserved it!
Costumes:
Before I came to see this opera, I was slightly doubtful about Hansel and Gretel being played by adults. I thought they would be very tall and not look like children at all! I was right about them being tall, but I was amazed just by their costumes how they managed to look just like children! The witch was not what I expected. She wasn’t a very pointy-hat broomstick sort of witch. She had a Zimmer frame! I was rather disappointed in her; she gave her plan away too quickly. Almost as soon as she came to Hansel & Gretel she started hinting about what tasty morsels they were. It sounds funny, but I felt almost proud of Hansel and Gretel because in the book they happily went into her house with the witch without any struggle. In the opera, they were wary of the witch, and refused to come with her. In the end, she had to virtually kidnap them to make them come with her!
Scenery:
I didn’t expect the forest to be so dark and threatening, because the fairy tale I have always heard involves a cute little fairy-tale forest with a big colourful gingerbread house with lots of candy canes, jelly sweets, etc. I was slightly disappointed about the gingerbread house. I didn’t expect it to be so small…however it was a very good gingerbread house, with sugar windows and lights inside and everything! I liked the little house, which they lived in- it seemed geometrically impossible that there should even be a roof to go on top. In the witch’s house, there was a big larder with lots of children hanging from strings by their necks. I thought this was sort of unnerving, even thought they weren’t real children! Music and Singing: My favourite singer was the Dew Fairy, because she sang really well and the music she sang was soft, so it sort of suited the morning feel. My favourite piece of music was the Witches Ride, because I thought the composer captured the witchy feel perfectly, because the music was loud and threatening. I thought it was the best opera I had seen so far, and I really enjoyed it. We had the best seats in the house! I had a really good view and was able to see everything. I really hope I can go again sometime!
Lizzie Reynolds, age 11