Hansel and Gretel (1963 film) the sets but nevertheless called it "an extremely agreeable 90 minutes of tuneful make-believe" Hansel and Gretel (1963 film) Hansel and Gretel is a 1963 Australian TV adaptation of the opera "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck. It screened as an episode of "Wednesday Theatre" in 1966. It was an early role for Jackie Weaver who played Gretel and was aged 16; she had just appeared as Cinderella in a pantomime at Philip Street. Brian Gilbert, who played Hansel, was 13. The show was recorded during the visit to Australia of Australian conductor Charles Mackerras. He consducted the Sydney Symphony
Lina Abarbanell and the Metropolitan Opera House, brought Abarbanell to New York. Her American debut came that October at Irving Place in "Fruehlingsluft" ("Spring Breezes") followed a month later playing Lt. Von Vogel in "Jung Heidelberg" ("Young Heidelberg"), a comic opera with music from Carl Millöcker and book by Leopold Krenn and . Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House as Hänsel to Bella Alten's Gretel came on November 25, 1905. Over the run of "Hänsel und Gretel" the two would at times switch roles. After honing her language skills Abarbarbanell made her English-speaking debut at the Garden Theatre on Christmas Day,