1/ There’s a long tradition of considering this a Christmas opera - its world premiere was on Dec 23 1893 - but to overcome my mystification as to why, I have to reach back b4 40+ yrs of religious Christmases and recover a time when children + candy was enough to do the trick.
https://twitter.com/metopera/status/1342606172302368768
2/ It’s actually a rather good opera. If the 1st scene is a bit twee, the interlude b4 the 2nd scene is “The Witch’s Ride,” taking the piece along a darker route. .@MetOpera’s current production eschews twee-ness and emphasizes hunger: hence the cartoon-y chefs
3/ spreading a banquet in the children’s dream. The Witch’s house is an industrial kitchen. The contralto role of the Witch is taken by a tenor- here, the late great Philip Langridge - made up to look like Julia Child. In a way this practice dates back to the 1967-68 season, in a
4/ more traditional production, when the two artists alternating as the Witch were long-time Met character-tenor Paul Franke and Austro-German character-baritone Karl Dönch.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
