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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > November > 10 > Entry
Review: Austin Lyric Opera’s ‘Cinderella’
Austin Lyric Opera’s production of Gioacchino Rossini’s La Cenerentola (his treatment of the Cinderella story - cenere is Italian for ashes or cinders) doesn’t have many illogical moments.
Considering that the work being performed in Dell Hall at the Long Center is an Italian opera buffa first performed in 1817 and re-set in early-1930s Hollywood, you should understand the first sentence as a compliment. But you might want to know in advance that Rossini has no pumpkins, nor a clock striking midnight.
This re-set opera is carefully worked out. The sung Italian is conveniently mistranslated in a number of the projected English captions. Ramiro is a movie director, originally a prince, who wants a new actress who is beautiful and sincere to star in his next film. The movie studio, “Palace Pictures,” was originally the prince’s palace. Magnifico, the nasty yet comical stepfather, lives with the stepdaughters in a run-down vaudeville theater. That’s odd. Dandini, Ramiro’s cameriere (originally his manservant), is now his chauffeur.
The staged overture is intelligent, with events and gestures plotted carefully to the shape and rhythm of the music. The captions during the Overture made it feel more like a silent film from Hollywood of the 1920s-which was not the date in the program, but that’s OK.
The entire production was first presented at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 2004. Most of the time, the sets, costumes and lighting look marvelous. Only little details bothered, such as Cenerentola’s dress for her audition that looked like a business suit and lacked the pizazz that her gown for the last scene had in spades. Garnett Bruce’s direction got a little busy later in Act I, but the rest was tasteful and well motivated.
The cast is consistently excellent, with voices suited to the style. Sandra Piques Eddy as Cenerentola is a mezzo-soprano with an apparently endless range, warm in the middle and lower registers, yet well-focused at the top. As Ramiro, Michele Angelini’s light tenor was agile, princely, and expressive. John Boehr’s chauffeur was brilliantly sung, and his character had sly fun spoofing his boss while they traded identities. Also top-notch were Kristopher Irmiter as Alidoro, a producer, and Steven Condy as Magnifico. Thanks to conductor Robert Tweten’s lightning pace, you’ll hear where Gilbert and Sullivan got the idea for patter.
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By Faye Tessnow
November 16, 2008 9:21 PM | Link to this
I really enjoyed the production of “Cinderella.” It is the best that I have seen in the past two or three years we have been attending. The talent of the lead soprano, Sandra Piques Eddy, is extraoridinaire! Thanks. Faye Tessnow, Lago Vista
By Steve Rodi
November 13, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
Musically, we enjoyed ALO’s La Cenerentola. Staging was a hodge-podge, Hollywood 1933 atmosphere adding little to story line, a continual distraction of random furniture shifting. Translation often was omitted, no doubt since the 1817 lyrics badly matched the scene. Opening night seemed only 2/3 attended, discounts later offered for mid-week performance. Revised 08-09 calendar never seemed a good idea. Long Center second level lobby: jammed like subway, inadequate bathrooms, still no pressure in water fountains.