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HANSEL & GRETL
& HEIDI & GÜNTER
Book by Hannah Kohl
Music by Will Aronson
Lyrics by Daniel Maté
THE STORY OF THE SHOW
Gretl—yes, that Gretl—is now an immigrant single mom raising two kids in modern-day Chicago, still suffering the post-traumatic stress of her fairytale childhood. She can’t resist stuffing her children’s pockets full of pebbles, spraying them with deer musk to hide their human scent from witches and imposing a strict no-sugar policy. Meanwhile Heidi and Günter are fed up with their mom’s strange customs and helicopter parenting, and dream of the impossible: a normal childhood. But when long lost Uncle Hansel shows up at their doorstep, they are plunged into an unexpected adventure that brings the family together in a hilarious and touching tumble of past and present.
THE STORY BEHIND THE SHOW
HGHG began as a commission for Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2011 after they’d seen The Trouble With Doug at the 2010 NAMT Festival. Will and I were tasked with creating an original musical for all ages based on a well-known story in the public domain. Once we settled on the idea of a contemporary sequel to ‘Hansel & Gretel’, we reached out to our friend, the multi-talented Hannah Kohl, to write the book. The three of us started writing HGHG in early 2013 at the inaugural Johnny Mercer Writers’ Colony at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. Years later when it was finally complete, we sent it to friend and Doug director Victoria Clark, who loved it enough to pass it on to Jerry Dixon, the new Artistic Director at Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA, near Seattle. A slot at VT’s 2018 Festival of New Musicals soon followed, and the show became an audience favorite.
The latest: HGHG will have its world premiere production at Village Theatre in Spring 2020, directed by Jerry Dixon! Find out more here.