La Cenerentola, review: A refined production that plays up the high jinks
The hundreds of variants of the Cinderella story include several operas, of which Rossini’s La Cenerentola is the most famous. It has its moments of panto fun and games, but it’s more sentimental than knockabout in the way it follows Cinders’ — Cenerentola’s — progress from rags to riches. Even so, Oliver Platt’s new production for Opera Holland Park isn’t afraid to play up the high jinks that Rossini offers, adding a few extra pranks to spice things up.
La Cenerentola dates from 1817; musically and dramatically it looks back to Mozart and forward to Donizetti and Verdi. Appropriately, then, Neil Irish’s designs dip in and out of the 18th and 19th centuries to good effect. Holland Park’s wide, shallow stage poses challenges for a director, but with the aid of Irish’s flexible set, Platt manages to fill it with bustle, making witty use of the chorus, not always OHP’s strength.
He has a characterful set of soloists, all willing and able to play for laughs but equally proficient in negotiating the taxing vocal demands. Conductor Dane Lam supports them well, keeping things moving while allowing ample space for the sugar-coated moments.
Resources don’t allow for a full-size orchestra at Holland Park, but in Rossini that works well. In true panto style, Cenerentola’s step-sisters are cartoonish airheads; Heather Lowe and Fleur de Bray make a good double act, all simpering narcissism and pouting malice. For comedy, though, they are outshone by Jonathan Veira as Don Magnifico (Cinders’ step-father), a splendidly oafish clown who nevertheless has the panache to pull off Rossini’s rapid-fire patter songs.
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At times the shenanigans push the central characters to the sidelines: Victoria Simmonds’s Cenerentola does, indeed, spend much of the time at the far left of the stage. Meanwhile, as her would-be lover Ramiro, Nico Darmanin cuts a diminutive figure who often gets lost in the crowd. Yet both singers hold the attention with their refined sense of Rossinian style. Darmanin’s tenor is a little tight but clarion-clear as it soars to ever more precipitous heights, and if Simmonds is not always the most dynamic stage presence, her fine-grained mezzo delivers the coloratura with almost conversational naturalness: no mean feat.
Until July 30, Opera Holland Park; operahollandpark.com
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