Opera Review: A Piece of Fairy Cake

Joyce DiDonato sings a radiant Cendrillon at the Met.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The lighting department: Joyce DiDonata as Cinderella in Massenet's Cendrillon.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

At the end of the 2014 season, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato climbed atop a wedding cake at the end of Rossini's La Cenerentola, a role in which she caused a sensation at the Metropolitan Opera. This month, Ms. DiDonato returned to the stage of America's largest opera house--and to the ballrooms of a very familiar fairy tale--to sing the title role in Cendrillon, the 1899 adaptation of the Cinderella story by Jules Massenet.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Cendrillon

Joyce DiDonato stars in the Massenet version of Cinderella.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Joyce DiDonato goes to the ball in the Laurent Pelly production of Cendrillon.
Photo © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera has spent the last decade enthusiastically trawling through the vast operatic catalogue of Jules Massenet, the Parisian composer who represents the last gasp of French Romanticism before the dawn of the 20th century. Here they present the company's first performances of Cendrillon Joyce DiDonato sings the title role.

Opera Review: Fairy Tale Justice

The Met bounces back with Hansel and Gretel.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Spoon man: Kitchen witch Gerhard Siegel (center) makes magic while
Hansel (Tara Erraught, prone) and Gretel (Lisette Oropesa)  try to escape. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera plans its seasons five years in advance. So when general manager Peter Gelb chose Hansel and Gretel as one of this year's two holiday presentations, there was no way that he could have predicted that this fairy tale opera, sung in English, would be just the thing that this opera company, rocked by a month of sex scandals and rumors, needed.

New Head on the Block

Puccini's Turandot claims yet another victim.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Princess Turandot. Art from the original cover of the score as published by Ricordi.

The title character of Puccini's final opera Turandot is a fabulous Chinese princess, and possibly the most bloodthirsty heroine in opera. Y'see, Turandot, the daughter of the Chinese Emperor, is a single girl. And in a vow to her ancestor, she has her would-be suitors decapitated when they fail to answer three riddles. One could view this work as an exotic vision of ancient China through the eyes of a late Romantic Italian composer...or a game show gone horribly wrong.

Opera Review: Fairytale of New York

Joyce DiDonato is the Met's radiant Cenerentola.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Javier Camerena (left) and Joyce DiDonato (right) confront the Flying Spaghetti Monster (center)
in Rossini's La Cenerentola. Photo by Ken Howard © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

Last night, the Metropolitan Opera rolled out its twenty-sixth and final revival of the 2013-14 season, a revival of the company's 1997 production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.. There are no glass slippers in this version of the fairy tale (Roman censors in 1817 were prudish about bare feet) but there was plenty of vocal magic in the air.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Die Frau ohne Schatten

Richard Strauss' mighty, mystic morality tale returns.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Emperor (Torsten Kerl, left), the Empress (Christine Schwanewilms) and the
Red Falcon (Scott Nelson) in a moment from Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

Die Frau ohne Schatten is a beloved Richard Strauss opera, but like a comet, it is only seen occasionally. Constructed on an enormous scale and requiring a huge orchestra, this 1919 work is at once a fairy tale, an ode to domestic harmony and a celebration of the joys of having children.

Opera Review: Let Them Eat...Each Other

Hansel and Gretel at the Met.
by Paul Pelkonen

Julia Child-killer. Robert Brubaker (r.) as the Witch menaces Gretel in
Act III of Hansel and Gretel. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera marketing department touts Hansel and Gretel as its holiday offering, with a fairy-tale story geared toward children. It promotes images of friendly chefs, and a whimsical (fish-headed) waiter serving up dishes to two hungry tykes lost in the woods. But in choosing to revive Richard Jones''s food-obsessed production (originally seen at the Welsh National Opera in 1999) the company has missed the point of the work.

Opera Review: The Life Aquatic with Robert Lepage

The Canadian Opera Company presents The Nightingale and Other Short Fables at BAM.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The three bureaucrats (lower left) confront the Nightingale as the chorus looks on.

Photo from the COC production of The Nightingale © 2011 Canadian Opera Company.

Opera offerings at the Brooklyn Academy of Music are sparse this season, but this exquisite production of Stravinsky's The Nightingale (imported from the Toronto-based Canadian Opera Company) provided ample compensation--the unique spectacle of a Russian opera, set in China and performed as a water-based ballet of intricate puppets.

DVD Review: La Cenerentola from the Met

Welcome to the layer cake: Lawrence Brownlee and
Elina Garanca in La Cenerentola.
Photo © 2008 The Metropolitan Opera/UMG

This 2-DVD set preserves Elena Garanca's breakthrough performance in the title role of Rossini's comic fairy tale, as well as this wonderfully surreal production., which was originally designed for Cecilia Bartoli.

The staging, by the Italian team of Cesare Lievi (production) and Marizo Balò, (costumes and sets) combines Magritte-inspired surrealism (closets full of clocks, inexplicable stage fires, and the chorus dressed in suits and bowler hats) with a sense of bold slapstick that is entirely suited to Rossini. A small regret: this 2008 revival failed to include the apocalyptic onstage spaghetti fight that brought down the house at the premiere. (The Met costume department may be tired of cleaning marinara stains from the costumes.)

Garanca shines as Angelina, the "Cinderella" of the title. She has a resonant, finely controlled mezzo with a a warm deep range, and is capable of reaching the heights required by the final aria of this opera. It doesn't hurt the presenation that she is a good comic actress with the fresh quality needed for this role. The acid test of this role is the final scene, a long and difficult rondo where the much put-upon Angelina forgives her family for their abuses and begins her new life in the arms of her Prince atop of a giant wedding cake.

Lawrence Brownlee is a regular player in the Met's current Rossini craze, appearing in this season's stagings of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Armida. He has a soaring bel canto instrument, and sings sweetly in the slower cantabile sections of his arias. Brownlee proves himself capable of navigating Rossini's difficult cabaletta sections, where the notes pile on top of each other in a dazzling display of  technique. However, his Act II aria was marred by a tendency to pull up sharp when he opened up his voice and reached for the highest notes. Things improved at the end of the act, and his Recognition scene with Garanca had this strong tenor back to form.


Alessandro Corbelli gives a magnificent performance as Don Magnifico. He plays the wicked father with more humanity, eschewing the cartoonish business that usually mars this character. Perhaps his experience in the role of the valet, Dandini gives him greater perspective?

In turn, Simone Alberghini is a fine Dandini, giving a comic performance that recalls Figaro at his very best. Rachelle Durkin and Patricia Risley are "absolutely fabulous" as the two evil sisters. John Relyea is a sonorous presence as Alidoro, the "golden angel" who takes the role of "fairy godmother" in this version of the tale. That man can really rock an ice cream suit with a pair of golden wings sprouting from his back.

This DVD was originally released as a "Met Live in HD" broadcast, hosted by Thomas Hampson. The copy reviewed had the disc labels backwards, with Act I on Disc 2 and vice versa. Hopefully, this problem has been corrected in future pressings of this otherwise excellent set.