In velvet and silk, bowties and tights, a few hundred children came to New York City Opera on Saturday to see a new production of “Hansel and Gretel.” Transporting the Brothers Grimm’s story to Manhattan, the opera opens in a tenement apartment on the Lower East Side, where Hansel and Gretel sing German songs to distract themselves from hunger. Eventually, the brother and sister become enchanted and endangered by a woman on the Upper East Side, who is not at all “a great philanthropist,” as she calls herself, but rather a witch.

The storyline may have provoked a few thoughts about life in New York, but there wasn’t much time to brood. The party after the performance offered numerous distractions and lots of sweets.

“I only wish every child in New York City’s public schools could get to see the production,” the general and artistic director of New York City Opera, Paul Kellogg, said.

Across the room, cast members signed autographs. “What’s different in this production is that the reaction is so immediate,” Jennifer Aylmer, who played Gretel, said. “The children don’t miss a beat.”

That meant boos and bravos for Jessie Raven, who played the witch.

Some adult supporters were listed on the benefit committee with their children instead of spouses: Rachel Roy and Ava Dash, and Amy Fine Collins and Flora Collins. It was a cute but significant way of introducing children to the social world of their elders, a world rooted on the Upper East Side and — one hopes — without any witches.

Brooklyn Public Library

The Brooklyn Public Library honored the children’s book author John Scieszka at its gala on Thursday. The event gathers some of the borough’s most civically engaged writers, business leaders, and philanthropists, and this year was no exception. Why do they come? Out of friendship and good will toward the leaders of the library’s public and foundation boards, lawyer Thomas Amon and volunteer Janet Offensend. Guests this year included illustrator Colin Bootman and the author of “The Neighborhood Mother Goose,” Nina Crews.