Students from across East Baton Rouge Parish, including 125 Wildwood Elementary School fourth and fifth graders, filled the River Center Theater recently to watch Opera Louisiane’s production of “Hansel and Gretel.”  Opera Louisiane tailored this opera, by 19th Century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, to its Louisiana audience by setting it in the bayou and adding Cajun costumes and references. 

The company offered the performance free of charge to Baton Rouge students.  To prepare to attend the opera, Wildwood Elementary students studied the opera and listened to musical selections to identify melodic and rhythmic elements they are working to master in their music lessons. 

The students in the Baton Rouge Children’s Choir played the gingerbread children.  After the performance, selected Wildwood Elementary students posed for photos with the cast (pictured).