Evening star., 1942-10-25
'HanseI and GreteI'
Thrills Youngsters
AT National Theater
Opens Winter Season
Of Plays to Be Given by
ChiIdren's Museum


Before hundreds of breathless, de-
lighted youngsters, the Children's
Museum of Washington yesterday
opened its winter season of plays at
the National Theater with Clare
Tree Majors production of "Hansel
and Gretel."
Dozens OF children gathered before
the doors OF the theater long before
the curtain time. Many mothers
had pooled tires and gas and arrived
with two or three of their own chill
dren and many of the neighbors'
youngsters.
From the prologue spoken by two
fed-shirted drummer boys to the
dance at the final curtain, the pro-
duction was especially planned to
hold the interest of children. Into
the framework of the plot of "Hansel
and Gretel" were worked songs,
dances. stage games and animal
characters. The sets were smaller
than those prepared for a cast of
adult players and painted in bright
colors.
Shaggy Makes a Hit.
Despite the skillful playing of two
young ladies as the leading charac-
ters, Alma Louise Gray as Hansel
and Lucia Andrea as Gretel, the
character which drew the loudest
shrieks from the audience was
Shaggy, brown bear portrayed by
Raymond Hunter. The scanty dia-
logue necessary to explain the plot
was amply supplemented by the ac-
tions of Hansel and Gretel as they
Rugged Shaggy or chased him about
the stage.
Such dialogue as there was often
turned to such questions as obedi
ence to mother and father, fairness
to playmates and the duty of a SOL
dier to fight for his country. Con-
siderable humor was worked into the
lines of the king who arrives in the
forest to find his son and daughter
playing lust plain people" with
Hansel and Gretel, children of the
village woodcutter.
The same principle of action to
hold the attention of children was
applied in the second act, as Hansel
and Gretel fed screaming about the
candy house of the wicked witch.
The entrance of the brother and sis
ter to the candy house was made
from the back of the theater. The
audience gasped with excitement as
the pair came wandering down the
aisle. Three-year old Keith McCul-
loch, son of Mr.. and Mrs. John I. B.
McCulloch, of 1924 Wyoming avenue
NV, was. unable to bear the excite
ment. Rising from his seat he took
the hand of Hansel and proceeded
down the aisle with him almost to
the stage stairs.
Get Closeup View.
Children who had managed to re-
main decorously in their seats dur
ing the first act then followed
Keith's example. They lined them
selves up in the orchestra pit to press
their faces close to the stage and
watch the action from directly in
The ability OF Miss Gray and Miss
Andrea to sing and dance as well as
act added immeasurably to their
effectiveness as Hansel and GreteL
The part of the cruel stepmother was
we'll played taken by Ruthanne Huff
Sherry Theodore played an equally
frightening part as the witch.
John Butler portrayed the second
animal character, the black cat hov-
ering about the home of the witch
Ted Schearton played the part of
the woodcutting father of Hansel
and Gretel, and Paul Bedford and
Virginia La Sale took the parts of
the prince and princess lost in the
woods and enslaved by the witch.
The next play in the children's
series, given by the Children's Thea
ter Of New York and sponsored here
by the Children's Museum, will be
"Pinocchio," presented on December
20. The last play in the series. THE
Emperor's New Clothes" will be
presented by the Children's Theater
of Evanston, playing for the first
time outside of Illinois.
Clare Tree Major directed yester-
days production. assisted by Walter
Roberts and Mary Mahan as sets
designer.
st