Hansel and Gretel from The Metropolitan Opera

Most fairy tales, though charming on the outside, have darker underpinnings. Alice Coote and Christine Schafer play the siblings lost in a shadowy world of unknown menace, pursued by the Witch (portrayed by tenor Philip Langridge) who seeks to devour them. The English-language production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s masterful treatment of the beloved story by the Brothers Grimm is the second in the Met’s annual series of special holiday presentations.