George Awsumb, rapidly approaching retirement but still full of opinions, rational or otherwise, blogs about current events, trends, films, pop culture and whatever else bugs him.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Odds and Ends, mostly odds

I have been watching a recording of the Met's recent version of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. The singing, particularly the two female leads, is magnificent as is the orchestra. However, the set and overall design is creative mess. For some odd reason, the designer or director decided to modernize the German fairy tale. It's now in English, which works well, but it's also contemporary. When the witch mixes up batter, she uses a mix master. Now the witch is an obvious drag queen, complete with hairy arms and fake bosoms. Try as they might, the Met cannot pull this one off. The walking trees and giant-headed chefs seem arbitrary, and the scene at the witch's kitchen is downright ghoulish like a meat pie from Sweeney Todd.

Another odd note is 10,000 Years B.C. Since it has no connection to pre-history or any period, we tend to forgive its goofiness. Our pre-historic hero and heroine are squeaky clean with teeth out of Crest commercial. There's some kind of giant chicken who reminds us of old films with such creatures. At the end we are robbing Apocalypto and Conan the Barbarian with a giant sacrificial pyramid, slaves with lime on their faces, and effete priests, all succumbing to our hero's leadership skills. Despite all this silliness, this is a fun, fast-moving adventure that never quits.

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