Stage is set in Siamsa for Tralee’s Miriam to wow in ‘Hansel & Gretel’

WHEN the curtain raises in the famous Siamsa Tíre tomorrow night, it will be a very special moment for one lady in particular, Tralee’s very own Miriam Murphy, who will be performing in the role of ‘Mother’ in the musical production of ‘ Hansel & Gretel’.

A renowned soprano singer, Miriam - who is originally from Caherslee - has been having an absolute blast these last few weeks performing the acclaimed show up and down the country but she’s always had an eye on that Tralee date as it edged ever closer and now finally tomorrow night, February 27, she’ll have that special homecoming moment.

Miriam spoke to us here in about how everything has been going so far and why she is excited to bring a little bit of opera to Tralee and hopefully convert a few locals into fans!

“About a year ago, I was working with Fergus Sheil who runs the Irish National Opera and we’ve worked together quite a bit. I actually did my first ever professional opera with Fergus in the National Concert Hall so we go back quite a while,” she said.

“He approached me and said that they were thinking of putting on ‘ Hansel & Gretel’ and he asked would I be interested in taking on the role of ‘Mother’ and of course, I said yes and I’ve been delighted to be a part of the production ever since,” said Miriam.

At the time of speaking to us, Miriam had just completed a week in the Abbey in Dublin, an experience which turns out was as historic as it was fantastic.

“It’s unusual for an opera singer to get work at the Abbey and I heard that this was the first time that they’d done opera at the Abbey so that’s a little bit of history that I’m part of,” she said with a laugh.

Miriam said that the audience feedback for the show has been excellent and what makes the whole experience extra special for an opera lover like her is that it is introducing opera to an audience that may never have experienced it before.

“It was interesting playing the Abbey because it introduced a lot of people who may not have normally gone to operas and who may have been more of theatre going people, to opera,” she said.

“Muireann and Louis ( the co-directors) have taken a more modern approach to this opera and people really related to this. The music too of course is very appealing and also we have the band on stage with us so both visually and aurally, it’s a real feast for the eye. There’s a lot to see and there’s a lot to hear and also, you get to see the mechanics of the orchestra, I mean it’s a band of seven players and the pianist and who also take part in the action as well so there’s going to be a lot going on,” she laughed.

Miriam admits that it will be a personal treat for her to get to perform on stage in Siamsa as it will be the very first time that she’ll be performing an opera in Siamsa.

“That’ll be another first for me and another thing off my bucket list,” she laughed.

“I really do think that it will be a wonderful night. I think it’s wonderful that people in Tralee will get to see this opera because as I’ve said, the music is really tremendous and it’s very nice for me to present myself as an opera singer because not many people from Tralee would have seen me on stage unless they’d travelled elsewhere to see me,” she said.

‘Humperdinck - Hansel and Gretel’ will be starting at 8pm tomorrow night; it is a play that is described as “one of the greatest operas about children.”

“Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel is full of music that is sweet and beguiling,

I think it’s wonderful that people in Tralee will get to see this opera because as I’ve said, the music is really tremendous.

combining childlike simplicity with heart aching beauty. He wanted a plot that ‘was not made up of murders, brutal deaths, operetta-like nonsense, or sugar-sweet fairy tales’. Do not be fooled. This is a story of greed and starvation, mouth-wateringly sugar-coated,” reads the blurb of the play.

“Trouble at home. Two hungry children lost in a haunted forest. The lure of a gingerbread house. The frightening hocus pocus of the predatory Witch. And the smarts of the children who triumph in the end. All wrapped up in the delicious sound world of Engelbert Humperdinck’s operatic masterpiece.”