7 best Houston in-person and virtual plays and performances for June Houston Grand Opera s imaginative new production of
Hansel and Gretel sets live performances amid original animation.
HGO Courtesy Photo For local theater-lovers who thought the day would never arrive, June brings the summer surprise of in-person, indoor shows. While most companies won’t make the big leap inside until fall, a few theaters are taking a vaccinated trial (mostly musical) run to bring audiences back inside this month. Those not quite ready to take their seats in the same space as fellow audience members and performing artists needn’t worry: plenty of streaming options abound.
Hansel and Gretel Takes a Colorful Approach to a Bayou-Set Fairytale
The take on Humperdinckâs opera, which is available online through June 27, combines live singing with stunning animated backgrounds.
By
Holly Beretto
5/28/2021 at 10:01am
Virtually everyone knows of Hansel and Gretel, the two children who get lost in the woods, find a house made of candy, and wind up having to escape from a witch. Itâs been told in countless versions through the ages, from the Brothers Grimmâs creepy fairytale to children s cartoons to an ill-advised, Jeremy Renner-led movie. One of the most bewitching (see what we did there) adaptations is Engelbert HumperdinckâsâIts score is laced with vast depth and beauty, evocative of the German woods in which it takes place.
Monday is Memorial Day, and if staring at a three-day weekend and unsure what to do, let us make some suggestions to keep you entertained and busy. There’s dance, opera, film, theater, visual art – if you want it, we probably got it. Keep reading for a list of this week’s best bets.
Houston Grand Opera will present a new digital take on Engelbert Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel on Friday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m. Directed by Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Lileana Blain-Cruz, this new version of Humperdinck’s classic, created specifically for HGO Digital, stars current HGO Studio artists and alums, and blends live performance with original animated set designs by visual artist Hannah Wasileski. In an interview with the
Exaudi. This lunchtime recital, entitled
Chromatic Renaissance, intersperses 16th and 17th-century works with a selection of madrigals from contemporary composer James Weeks’s
Primo Libro. The program opens with four of Orlande de Lassus’s
Sibylline Prophecies
2 pm ET: Hamburg International Music Festival presents
Insula Orchestra & Laurence Equilbey. Laurence Equilbey conducts Insula Orchestra and Accentus Choir in an all-Schumann program comprising
Vom Pagen und der Königstochter Op. 140,
Des Sängers Fluch Op. 139,
Requiem für Mignon Op. 98b, and
Nachtlied Op. 108. View here.
2:30 pm ET: Wigmore Hall presents Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. Wigmore Hall’s 120th anniversary sees the Hall’s Associate Ensemble joined by soprano Mary Bevan for Fauré’s