Hansel and Gretel 1978Scottish Opera
Read more about the opera Hansel and Gretel
Peter Ebert's production, which opened in June 1978, took what was at the time an unusually serious view of this work, eliminating the saccharine qualities which sometimes afflicted other stagings. Did the starving children in angelic guise have a salutary effect on audiences over the Christmas period?
Judith Pierce took on a final new role with the company, as did Gregory Dempsey, one of a bevy of three tenors enjoying themselves thoroughly in drag - somehow a tenor witch always seems less frightening than the usual mezzo or dramatic soprano.
June dates to be added.
Scottish Opera's 1978-79 season
Scottish Opera's fourth season at the Theatre Royal (1978-79) opened with Simon Boccanegra, and continued with Jenůfa, Catiline Conspiracy then an unusual triple-bill of Savitri, Fanny Robin and Dido and Aeneas. Next came Seraglio, Rosenkavalier, Hansel and Gretel, Fledermaus, Midsummer Night's Dream, Bohème, Kátya Kabanová and Rigoletto. In June there followed the company's first staging of a musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Many of these works were also toured.
Performance Cast
- Hansel
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Cynthia Buchan (Dec 30 m)
Della Jones (Dec 26, 27, 28, 30 e)
- Gretel
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Marie Slorach (Dec 28, 30 m)
Laureen Livingstone (Dec 26, 27, 30 e)
- Gertrude mother of Hansel and Gretel
- Peter a broom maker and father of Hansel and Gretel
- Sandman
- Dew Fairy
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Susanna Ross (Dec 28, 30 m, e)
Una Buchanan (Dec 26, 27)
- Witch
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Gregory Dempsey (Dec 30 e)
Francis Egerton (Dec 26, 30 m)
John Robertson (Dec 27, 28)