BY JAY NORDLINGER [27 December 2007, NY Sun]

On Christmas Eve day, the Metropolitan Opera offered Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel," in a production by the Englishman Richard Jones. "Hansel and Gretel" is not just for Christmas; in fact, you will strain to find Christmas in it. But it has long been a seasonal favorite, not unlike "The Nutcracker."