Contemporized classic proves grim fairy tale has legs By: Holly Harris Posted: 5:25 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 10, 2025 Last Modified: 5:00 PM CDT Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025 Updates

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The Royal Winnipeg Ballet burst into its 86th season in a blaze of bubble-gum pink Thursday with the Manitoba première of Hansel and Gretel taking audiences on a wild joyride into a celluloid fantasy circa 1920s Berlin.

Everyone knows the iconic fairy tale, penned by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, in which two siblings run away to the Bavarian woods only to fall into the clutches of an evil witch with an appetite for young children.

However, in this case, New Zealand choreographer Loughlan Prior (who was in attendance), an avid cinephile and filmmaker himself, has cloaked the 213-year-old story in early 20th-century German expressionism, with the characters’ inner emotional landscapes mirrored by highly stylized, grainy black-and-white film footage projected onto screens.

Prior has also softened the original tale’s sharper edges — no parents abandoning their children here — by making hunger and food insecurity the true antiheroes.

He further contemporizes the two-hour narrative ballet (including intermission), as we witness Hansel and Gretel being cruelly bullied by the town’s more affluent children during Act I’s opening street scene.

It admittedly takes some getting used to the grim, monochromatic tones that capture the family’s poverty-stricken world in the first act, heightened by the projection of the mechanistic guts of the Musée D’Orsay’s famous clock, connoting the monotonous grind of life’s have-nots.

It’s also somewhat disconcerting having these thoroughbred dancers perform on a (mostly) bare stage, limited by the projection screen’s physical parameters. It negates the full 3D multi-dimensionality afforded by live performance, despite additional visual layering with flies and scrims.

Nevertheless, many fine performances abound in this ballet staged by New Zealander Clytie Campbell, who has ensured Prior’s deliciously eclectic choreography — which mashes together classical ballet technique with jazz, modern, ballroom and Latin dance elements — keeps things humming, with distinct movement vocabulary for each group of characters.

Jon Buswell’s dramatic lighting is ignited by Act II’s riotously saturated hues as Hansel and Gretel enter into the Ice Cream Witch’s surreal world of pink-iced gingerbread men and ginormous pastries.

Second soloist Liam Saito’s (all lead roles alternating) brings athletic boyishness to his lederhosen-clad Hansel, who gaily swings his plush rabbit toy and spars with corps de ballet member Julianna Generoux’s Gretel, garbed in bloomers; all the eye-popping costumes are designed by Kate Hawley.

Principal dancer Stephan Azulay and second soloist Katie Saito infuse their roles as Father and Mother with aching despair, as they struggle to care for their hungry children. Their searing Act I pas de deux is filled with tender longing that builds to an emotional climax, showcasing Saito’s gorgeous extensions and Azulay’s expressive partnering.

Several extended sections slightly thwart the narrative’s forward thrust. One of these features the glittering Dew Fairies — as gorgeous as they are, in sparkling tutus that inject a jolt of traditional “ballet blanc” into the overall production — led by corps de ballet member Kyra Soo’s beaming Fairy Queen.

However, Soo’s sizzling tango with second soloist Marco Lo Presti — an up-and-coming RWB star — mesmerizes, their carefully controlled lifts and spins punctuated by Soo’s dizzying fouettés.

Soloist Jaimi Deleau takes a dip into the dark side with her Ice Cream Witch lording over the town’s children after wheeling in with her bicycle cart of oversized cones accompanied by a hypnotic hurdy-gurdy.

Her character later morphs into the Transformed Witch, performed with wildly theatrical Carabosse energy by second soloist Joshua Hidson, who cracks a serving spoon like a dominatrix’s whip as she fattens up the now caged Hansel for lunch.

Special mention goes to the “Birds,” seven students culled from the RWB School Recreational Division who rhythmically sweep up the bread crumbs Gretel scatters to mark their trail.

A chorus of spooky Ghost Children, evoking the Wilis of Giselle, pays further homage to Hansel and Gretel’s balletic roots. Corps de ballet member Logan Savard’s nattily attired, showbiz-slick Sandman lulls the children to sleep after summoning the stunning full moon — recalling George Méliès’s 1902 French sci-fi flick, though with an ice-cream cone rather than rocket ship piercing the celestial body’s eye — with a snap of his fingers.

Guest conductor Jean-Claude Picard expertly leads the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra through composer Claire Cowan’s brilliant pastiche score, ranging from lush strings to nifty percussion and “musique concrete” effects overlaid with recorded tracks into a seamless, shifting kaleidoscope of sound.

Any qualms about the seemingly disjointed connection between the ballet’s two halves is laid to rest when Hansel and Gretel enter the Ice Cream Witch’s Technicolor world, in which the Gingerbread Men bring platters of pastries for the children to gorge on.

Then it’s full-out cabaret, including can-can kick lines and jazz hands performed by the Transformed Witch and her Chorus of Witches, with the opening night crowd whooping and enthusiastically clapping along.

The ballet ends happily ever as Gretel pushes the Transformed Witch into the glowing flames of the oven — leaving only her Dorothy-like ruby red slippers behind — with Mother and Father rushing in to rescue their children from the Witch’s sugary domicile.

Audiences are sure to be seduced by both the top-notch performances and the arresting, genre-bending creative vision that’s as appealing as fresh-baked gingerbread.

holly.harris@shaw.ca