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How are the Witch’s gingerbread victims restored to human form?
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Hänsel and Gretel
Poster for a Federal Theatre Project presentation of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel and Gretel at the Beaux Arts Theatre in Los Angeles, c. 1936–41.
In Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hänsel and Gretel, the Witch’s gingerbread victims are restored to human form following the destruction of the Witch’s oven, which explodes after Hänsel and Gretel push her into it.1
Initially, the victims appear as gingerbread figures frozen in place with their eyes closed. To fully restore them, Hänsel and Gretel must first touch the figures to open their eyes. Finally, Hänsel uses the Witch’s magic stick to recite an unfreeze spell, which breaks the enchantment and returns the children to their human forms.1