Youth Ballet brings composer's 'Hansel and Gretal' to life.

Byline: Richard Duckett

'Peter and the Wolf along with Hansel and Gretel: Classic Tales Told Through Music and Dance'

WHEN: 6 p.m. Feb. 25

WHERE: The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester

HOW MUCH: $20 (877) 571-7469; www.thehanovertheatre.org

Larry Thomas Bell will be a very interested member of the audience when Youth Ballet of Worcester Company dances to the musical composition "Hansel and Gretel'' at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester on Feb. 25.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'm very excited about it,'' Bell said. "I've never had anything danced to -- to my knowledge.''

It will be the first time that the Boston composer and teacher's "Hansel and Gretel, a Fable for Narrator and Orchestra, Op. 59,'' written in 2001, has been choreographed and danced on the stage.

The piece will be part of a program titled "Peter and the Wolf along with Hansel and Gretel: Classic Tales Told Through Music and Dance'' being presented by Ballet Arts Worcester, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Orchestra conducted by Douglas Weeks, and The Hanover Theatre.

Last year, Ballet Arts Worcester accompanied by the orchestra presented its interpretation of Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 classic composition "Peter and the Wolf'' at The Hanover Theatre. This time, the program expands as "Peter and the Wolf'' will be joined by Ballet Arts Worcester's new realization of Bell's "Hansel and Gretel.''

Jennifer Agbay, director of Ballet Arts Worcester, said "I added the show so that I may start a full program of children's ballet stories. I believe bringing stories like these to life is of the of the best ways to expose children to culture. The show will help foster the arts in the early years and hopefully not only inspire children to participate in the arts as performers, but as audience members and supporters.''

Bell was commissioned to write "Hansel and Gretel'' by The New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and it premiered in 2002 at Jordan Hall in Boston in a performance by the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Zander.

The composition, rather like Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf,'' introduces children in the audience to instruments of the orchestra by having an instrument assigned to a particular character while telling the ages-old fairy tale. Gretel is represented by a violin; Hansel, cello; the witch, xylophone; step-mother, muted trumpet; father, French horn; cat, clarinet.

"The...