Opera Scotland

Hansel and Gretel 1964Sadler's Wells Opera

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It wasn't long since the last run of the previous production, but this was a new staging by Glen Byam Shaw, that had been premiered at Sadler's Wells on 19 December 1963. Perhaps the most notable performers are Rita Hunter's mother, Ann Howard's Witch and, most of all, Margaret Neville as a delightful Gretel. Once she moved to take up a contract in Germany, she rarely performed on home territory, but for the early years of her career, at least, she sang a range of lyric roles very attractively with Sadler's Wells - and occasionally with Scottish Opera.

Cast details for Glasgow are from a programme in the OperaScotland collection, supplemented by a programme in Aberdeen City Library. The change on 21 November is as reported in Opera (February 1965 p146).