Constantine Costi applies his fertile brain to Humperdinck’s Wagnerian family favourite based on a typically gory story from the Brothers Grimm. With its haunted forest, gingerbread house and child-gobbling witch, there’s plenty for a director to get their teeth into, and while the marketing hyperbole suggests that this will be Hansel and Gretel “as you’ve never seen it before”, given Costi’s impressive track record that is entirely possible. Charismatic countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim sings Hansel (usually a mezzo-soprano) with Sofia Troncoso as Gretel, Catherine Carby in the dual role of the Witch and the Mother, and Morgan Pearse as their long-suffering father Peter. (Read our countertenor feature on page 22.)

Limelight Editor’s Choice

“Who’s that nibbling at my house?
Nibble, nibble, I hear a mouse.
Who’s that nibbling at my house?”

Step into the dark, enchanted forest where danger lurks behind every tree and sweetness hides sinister secrets. Constantine Costi’s visionary, genre-bending production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, has lead design by Jonathan Oxlade. Based on the haunting original by the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel brings to life a timeless story of courage, cunning, and the triumph of self-reliance.

The world’s most in-demand countertenor, Kangmin Justin Kim takes to the stage as Hansel with Sofia Troncoso as Gretel, returning to Adelaide following a triumphant season as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. With Catherine Carby in the dual role of the Witch and the Mother, Morgan Pearse as Peter and South Australian emerging artist, Lucy Stoddart, this is an ensemble cast not to be missed.