Theatre: MAGIC AND MISCHIEF: A WINTER SEASON OF DELICIOUSLY DARK FAIRY TALES

***Coming to the Theatre Royal Nottingham 22 – 25 March 2017 ***

This Winter, Opera North celebrates the timeless appeal of classic fairy tales with three brand new productions on the Theatre Royal stage: Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely-performed The Snow Maiden, Humperdinck’s much-loved Hansel and Gretel and Rossini’s captivating Cinderella.

The chill winds of March make it the perfect time to visit a cosy theatre for an operatic version of the charming Russian folk story, The Snow Maiden. The daughter of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty, the young Snow Maiden, sung by Irish soprano Aoife Miskelly, wants nothing more than to live amongst humans, after meeting a shepherd boy, Lel (Heather Lowe). But she hides a tragic secret: her heart is made of ice and, if she falls in love, it will melt.

Director John Fulljames has reworked The Snow Maiden’s classic storyline in a contemporary setting, blending the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The opera, a Russian favourite, which is being professionally staged for the first time in over 60 years in the UK, features some of Rimsky-Korsakov’s most lyrical music, including the ‘Chorus of the Birds’, and the ‘Dance of the Clowns’.

Hansel and Gretel, the second piece in Opera North’s Winter season, is perhaps the best-loved of all the operatic fairy tales but there’s a dark twist to this story of two children lost in the woods. The music magically evokes the contrasting worlds of the story, from the daily struggle for survival of an impoverished family, to the world of the forest, both idyllic and full of danger; home to the terrifying Witch and her tempting gingerbread house.

In director Edward Dick’s new production, the action on stage includes hand-held cameras and live video; set against this modern technology is Humperdinck’s charming and melodic music, including the dizzying excitement of the ‘Witch’s Ride’ and the serene beauty of the children’s ‘Evening Prayer’. This production features one of Britain’s leading dramatic sopranos, Susan Bullock CBE, in the dual role of the Witch and the children’s mother, alongside Katie Bray as Hansel and Fflur Wyn as Gretel.

The third opera in the fairy tale season strikes a romantic note with Rossini’s sparkling comedy Cinderella (La Cenerentola). Dance is woven into the very fabric of the music, and this contemporary new production opens with Cinderella scrubbing the floor of a ballroom dance school. In Rossini’s work, it is music rather than magic that transforms Cinderella into a princess and enables her to deftly outwit her step-father Don Magnifico (Henry Waddington) and two cruel step-sisters.

This fresh, witty take on the Cinderella story is directed by multi-talented director and choreographer Aletta Collins, with two young international stars taking the lead roles. Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta is Cinderella, and fast-rising South African tenor Sunnyboy Dladla is her prince, Don Ramiro. Six young local dancers from Lockton Dance School will also enjoy their time in the spotlight.

The three fairy-tale productions share basic elements of a highly adaptable set, designed by Giles Cadle, with the inventive use of video bringing the themes of transformation and magic to the forefront. From live video captured on-stage in real time in Hansel and Gretel, folk-influenced dreamscapes in The Snow Maiden, or a riot of colour and invention in Cinderella, the use of video enables each of the fairytales to further blur the lines between reality and fantasy.

 

The flexibility of video design, with quicker turn-around times between performances, makes it possible for the Company to give a Saturday matinee performance of Cinderella, as well as a special matinee of Hansel and Gretel for Schools groups, extending and deepening the reach of this part of Opera North’s education and community engagement programme and allowing the Company to play to more young and family audiences.

• £10 tickets available for members of Opera North’s Under 30s scheme

• Saturday matinee performance of Cinderella

• Schools’ Matinee performance of Hansel and Gretel (Thursday 23 March, 11am) with introductions to the opera in schools beforehand

• ‘Whistle Stop’ condensed version of Hansel and Gretel at The Malt Cross (Tuesday 21 March) to introduce new community audiences to opera

Production information:

The Snow Maiden                                                                                                                 NEW

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1882)

Sung in English with English titles

 

 

The Snow Maiden is the daughter of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty. Beautiful and warm, her beguiling exterior hides a tragic secret: her heart is made of ice which will melt if she ever succumbs to the warmth of human love.

Written at one of the happiest times in his life, Rimsky-Korsakov described The Snow Maiden as ‘a spring fairy-tale’, creating an opera of sheer enchantment from this popular Russian tale, graced with some of the composer’s most spontaneously lyrical music. He claimed that the score contains several authentic folk melodies, and his rich and colourful orchestration is a gorgeous evocation of the natural world.

Directed by John Fulljames, Associate Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, this new production, the first professional staging in the UK in over 60 years, will make inventive use of video imagery to blend and contrast worlds of fantasy and modern day reality.

The adventurous staging is reflected in the cast, an exciting mix of Opera North regulars and talented newcomers, led by young British conductor Leo McFall, winner of the 2015 German Conductor Prize. Casting includes Northern Irish soprano Aoife Miskelly who makes her Opera North debut as the Snow Maiden. Aoife’s most recent roles have included Despina in Così fan tutte, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Frasquita in Carmen, all for Cologne Opera.

Bonaventura Bottone, who last appeared at Opera North as Nick in The Girl of the Golden West (2014), returns to sing Tsar Berendey; James Creswell and Yvonne Howard perform as Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty, following recent Opera North performances in The Ring (2016). Opera North Associate Artist Heather Lowe sings Lel, while young New Zealand baritone Phillip Rhodes is Mizgir.

 

 

The Snow Maiden            Aoife Miskelly                                Conductor                           Leo McFall

Tsar Berendey                   Bonaventura Bottone                 Director                                John Fulljames                            

Grandfather Frost            James Creswell                             Set Designer                       Giles Cadle                      

Spring Beauty                    Yvonne Howard                            Costume Designer           Christina Cunningham

Lel                                          Heather Lowe                 Lighting Designer            Matthew Haskins

Kupava                                 Elin Pritchard                                Video Designer                 Will Duke

Mizgir                                   Phillip Rhodes                           Choreographer                  Lucy Hind

Bermyata                            Dean Robinson                             

Bobyl Bakula                     Joseph Shovelton                        

Bobylikha                            Claire Pascoe 

 

Hansel and Gretel                                                                                                    NEW

Engelbert Humperdinck (1893)

Sung in English with English titles

 

 

This is a darkly compelling version of the Brothers Grimm story of growing up and surviving childhood. Hansel and Gretel is perhaps the best-loved of all the operatic fairy tales, with an unending thread of golden melody woven throughout its charming score. But in director Edward Dick’s production, it is also one of the most unsettling.

From a poor home in which hunger is an ever-present threat, brother and sister escape to the world of the forest. There, they encounter supernatural forces both good and evil, from the benevolent Sandman to the terrifying Witch, as this contemporary take on a classic story reveals the perils of growing up.

Susan Bullock CBE takes on the formidable dual role of the Witch and children’s mother, Gertrud, in her first Opera North appearance since singing the title role in Elektra in 2008. Of her most distinguished roles, Wagner’s Brünnhilde has garnered outstanding praise, and she becamethe first ever soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House in 2012.

Two young British opera singers whose careers Opera North has been instrumental in developing over the years take on the roles of Hansel and Gretel. Mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, who charmed audiences as Rosina in The Barber of Seville (2015), sings Hansel, while Gretel is soprano Fflur Wyn, fresh from her performance as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (2016).

 

Hansel                                  Katie Bray                                        Conductor                           Justin Doyle

Gretel                                    Fflur Wyn                                         Director                                Edward Dick                                  

Gertrud/Witch                  Susan Bullock                                Set Designer                       Giles Cadle                      

Peter                                     Phillip Rhodes                               Costume Designer           Christina Cunningham

Sandman                             Rachel Mosley                                Lighting Designer            Matthew Haskins

Dew Fairy                            Amy Freston                                    Projection Designer         Ian William Galloway

                                                                                                                Choreographer                  Gary Clarke

                               

                                       

                                                                                                               

Cast for Hansel and Gretel Schools’ Matinee performances (22 Feb at 2pm; 2, 9, 16, 23 Mar at 11am):

Hansel                                  Heather Lowe                 Conductor                           Justin Doyle

Gretel                                    Ellie Laugharne                                                                           

Gertrud/Witch                  Sarah Pring                                                                                    

Peter                                     Phillip Rhodes                              

Sandman                             Rachel Mosley                               

Dew Fairy                            Amy Freston                                                                                                                   

 

 

Cinderella (La Cenerentola)                                                                               NEW

Gioachino Rossini (1817)

Sung in Italian with English titles

 

 

An evening of pure magic is in store, with music of fun, fire and brilliance, but forget fairy godmothers, pumpkins and glass slippers. Rossini’s version of Cinderella (La Cenerentola) is an unabashedly romantic comedy, without some of the familiar elements of this much-loved fairy tale.

 

Rossini was celebrated in his day for serious as well as comic operas and, in Cinderella, he combines his genius for both. Bringing Rossini’s marvellous characters to life in this lively production are Quirijn de Lang (Fred Graham, Kiss Me, Kate; Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro, both 2015) who sings the Prince’s servant Dandini, and Henry Waddington (Baron Ochs, Der Rosenkavalier, 2016) as Cinderella’s wicked stepfather, Don Magnifico.

In this version of the fairy story, Cinderella emerges as a true romantic heroine; her transformation into a queen-in-waiting is achieved not through magic but through the power of music. Two fast-rising international artists make their Opera North and UK debuts as Cinderella and Don Ramiro. Young Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta’s previous roles have included Mercedes in Carmen (Frankfurt Opera), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in La Cenerentola (Leipzig Opera), as well as the role of Tiffany in John Adams’ I Was Looking at the Ceiling… in Rome and the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.

 

Don Ramiro is sung by South African tenor Sunnyboy Dladla, whose previous roles include Il Conte di Libenskof in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor for Zurich Opera; Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims at the Pesaro Rossini Festival, and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville for Stuttgart Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Aletta Collins, whose recent work for Opera North includes The Girl of the Golden West (2014), La voix humaine (2013), and Dido and Aeneas (2013), directs this fresh and witty take on the opera, in a production with dance woven into its very fabric, which opens as Cinderella scrubs the steps of a ballroom-dancing school.

 

Angelina (Cinderella)     Wallis Giunta                                                Conductor                           Wyn Davies

Don Ramiro                        Sunnyboy Dladla                                                                         David Cowan

Dandini                                                Quirijn de Lang                                                                            (25 Feb, 2, 4 Mar)

Don Magnifico                   Henry Waddington                     Director                                Aletta Collins

Clorinda                               Sky Ingram                                      Set Designer                       Giles Cadle

Tisbe                                     Amy J Payne                                    Costume Designer           Gabrielle Dalton

Alidoro                                 John Savournin                            Lighting Designer            Matthew Haskins

                                                                                                                Video Designer                 Andrzej Goulding

 

 

Performance diary:

Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Box office: 0115 989 5555 or trch.co.uk

Wed    22 Mar                        Hansel and Gretel                 7.00pm

Thu      23 Mar            Hansel and Gretel                 11.00am        Schools’ Matinee*

Thu     23 Mar                        Cinderella                               7.00pm

Fri       24 Mar                        The Snow Maiden                 7.00pm

Sat       25 Mar                        Cinderella                               2.00pm        

Sat       25 Mar                        Hansel and Gretel                 7.00pm

 

 

*Schools’ Matinee performances will not be on sale to the general public