The production of “Hansel and Gretel” by the Children’s Theatre Fantasy Orchard is the real thing. It tells the traditional tale very much the way the Brothers Grimm wrote it, but it has enough surprises to keep the story fresh.
The play takes place long ago in a faraway land beset by famine. With too many mouths to feed, Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother convinces their father that they must abandon the children in the forest. In this version, the white bird of the original becomes a graceful black bird who has fallen under the witch’s spell and must lure young children to the old woman’s house.
The feathered creature, elegantly portrayed by Kristin Finger, narrates the story and points out its most obvious message for children today: that it is dangerous to trust strangers. Yet the warning is delivered with subtlety and poetry so that it doesn’t sound preachy.
But the real substance of the story sets the two resourceful children on the path toward independence and pits them against the forces of evil.
The play gives them a terrifying moment when the witch first appears wearing a green latex mask and with long, spindly fingers. The moment becomes even more macabre when she is joined by two skeletons whose bones glow in the dark.
Then, in a delightful turnaround, director Dana Low takes the edge off the fear as the trio dances together to a boogie-woogie beat.
Low has successfully chosen to cast a man to play both the witch and the stepmother. Scott Letscher could simply have used the occasion to play it for laughs, but instead he creates two memorable, complex characters.
Hansel and Gretel wonder aloud what has motivated their stepmother and the witch to be so wicked. But there are no ambiguous feelings when Gretel tricks the witch and pushes her into the oven: She got what she deserved. And the play hints that the witch and the stepmother were one, so the children are doubly triumphant.
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“Hansel and Gretel” plays through Dec. 30 at the Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark St. Recommended for all ages. Phone 312-539-4211.
