It’s not often that a Wikipedia entry offers these related subjects to explore, “Gingerbread House” and “Child Cannibalism.” But, when the Reif Dance Spring Production is Hansel and Gretel: A Confectionary Tale, you have to deal with the dark origins of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale!
How well do you remember the story? A poor woodcutter’s new wife persuades him to abandon his children, Hansel and Gretel, in the forest. Apparently, a commonplace thing to do in medieval Germany, when provisions were scarce! The children leave a trail of breadcrumbs, but the birds eat the crumbs and Hansel and Gretel become lost in the woods. A kindly woman, who lives in a confectionary house, takes them in, feeding and sheltering them. The next day the witch reveals her true intentions by locking Hansel and Gretel in cages! The witch plans to fatten up Hansel until she can cook and eat him! Hansel is clever, each day the witch asks him to stick his finger out so she can feel how fat he’s getting. Instead, he sticks out a chicken bone and with her poor eyesight she can’t tell the difference and thinks he’s still skinny. I really liked that part as a kid!
Eventually the witch decides to cook and eat the children anyways. She prepares a roaring fire and asks Gretel to lean over and see if the oven is hot. Gretel feigns ignorance, until the witch, in frustration, bends over to show her how. When she does, Gretel pushes her into the oven! Hansel and Gretel steal the witch’s riches and make their way out of forest. Arriving home, they find their step-mother has died and their father is overjoyed to be reunited with them and they live happily ever after!
More recently, Hansel and Gretel has come under criticism for being too dark and scary for children. However, I loved scary stories as a child and today’s kids are no different! There is nothing like a good fright…when you are safely reading under your covers! There are many good lessons to learn in Hansel and Gretel as they cleverly outwit the witch and escape. And, just because someone acts nice, doesn’t mean they are!
Let’s move on! The Reif Dance Production of Hansel and Gretel will be quite different!
According to Reif Dance Director Raeanne Graupman, “We strayed from the original purely because the original Brothers Grimm story is quite dark. We didn’t want to scare our dancers, so I adapted the story and rewrote it to give us a bit more of a family-friendly story. I also wanted to have a Spring Show with lots of characters, so this was the perfect way to write in some characters while keeping the foundational aspects of a traditional fairytale.”
I don’t know all the changes yet but I expect there will be no child abandonment, no child eating witch and no witches pushed into ovens! We’ve also moved the story to France, after all French fairy tales aren’t as scary as German fairy tales!
Our story opens in a French village, where Hansel and Gretel are dispatched to the woods to find a special ingredient for their mother’s bakery.
After getting lost in the woods they encounter many strange creatures until eventually, they meet the witch. But, is she a good witch or a bad witch?
The biggest piece of scenery to build for Hansel and Gretel is the witch’s gingerbread house. According to set builder Greg Johnson, “Raeanne showed me a picture to give me an idea of what she wanted. She has dancers that depict the different candies on the house, so she wants specific candies and colors to match her dancer’s costumes! I’ve been working on some ideas of my own too!”
Hansel and Gretel: A Confectionary Tale is sure to be a cheerful adaptation of the original fairytale! With over 200 young performers, including graduating seniors Lily Stark and Anja Beck, the whole family will love it! And, after the performance you can take the kids home and read them the Grimm tale that started it all!
Get Tickets to Hansel and Gretel: A Confectionary Tale
