Mike Dunham of the Alaska Dispatch News attended the opening performance of Aklaq and Nayak (An Alaska Native Adaptation of Hansel and Gretel) and had the following to say about the co-production with Anchorage Opera:

(“Aklaq and Nayak”) retells “Hansel and Gretel” as an Inupiaq legend, using Engelbert Humperdinck’s famous music and the familiar plot of two children trapped by a witch, but lacing it with Alaska references…

The libretto by director Mari Hahn and Willa Towarak Eckenweiler keeps the food-or-starvation theme, but substitutes ptarmigan and seal meat for the cream and bread of the Brothers Grimm version. The father is not a broommaker but a hunter. The Sandman and Dew Fairy are a Snowy Owl and Raven. The moral is tweaked to reflect cooperation rather than faith in Providence…

The primary soloists were good, and in some cases they were very good. In particular, Linda Porter as the mother and Kira Eckenweiler as Nayak (Gretel) both have agreeably large voices with accurate pitch. As the Snowy Owl, Victoria Graham…her benediction to the sleepy children was beautiful. Donald Endres made a strong father, Ziva Berkowitz a suitably stubborn Aklaq (Hansel) and Kelly Wilson an animated yet terrifying Goblin Woman. Nora Clark had the part of the Raven in the opening performance on Friday afternoon.

Elena Nalchevska Kaufman‘s costumes were a big plus…The costumes for Raven and Snowy Owl were particularly attractive and effective…

Most intriguing…were the Inukin, “little people,” the nasty, somewhat human, somewhat supernatural critters who figure in Alaska lore from Bristol Bay to Barrow…dressed in black, with mischievous masks set at the crowns of their heads. As they groped around the stage, the performers lowered their heads to make the masks face forward, creating a gripping impression of weirdness and wickedness…

Carrie Yanagawa has created another extremely functional set with very little money. It was basically an arched frame showing tundra country, mountains in the background, with a center section that, by means of curtains, could be switched to different views of cabin interiors, the great outdoors or the witch’s hut…

The performance was accompanied by a solo piano… Janet Stiles performed the orchestra reduction expertly…

“Aklaq and Nayak” is scaled in a way that makes it easy to travel. That’s intentional, said Reed Smith, General Director of Anchorage Opera, which co-produced the show. His company and the University of Alaska Anchorage expect to take the production to schools and has an invitation to present the opera in Nome and Unalakleet.
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