Edmonton Opera makes La Cenerentola sizzle

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It may be an opera, but Edmonton Opera’s new production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella), which opened at the Jubilee on Saturday, deserves to be the hottest theatrical ticket in town.

For the production by director Robert Herriot — who directed the impressive production of Puccini’s Turandot earlier in the season — sizzles over with comic inventiveness and sheer fun. It’s augmented by Deanna Finnman’s vivid costumes, and brought to life by a fine cast that doesn’t have a weak link in it. I have rarely heard so much delighted laughter from an opera audience.

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The production has the hallmarks of Herriot’s comic approach: meticulous comic acting detail, an insistence that everyone on stage, even if not in the spotlight, contributes their comic elements, and just the right amount of surprises.

He’s willing to gently push the boundaries — here, for example, tenor John Tessier as the Prince has to do a full costume change on stage — but above all he can create moments that elevate comedy to the next theatrical level.

One such moment was the magical appearance of slow motion. The main characters are complaining about how they are confused, and Herriot shows us that confusion in an extended scene of people milling around, falling over, bumping into each other, all at less than half speed. It was not only a brilliant idea, but it was executed by the cast as if they had been moving at such a pace all their lives.

Herriot always has a respect for the music — there is virtually no gratuitous comic effect in this production — and usually some deeper underlying theme to his comic vision. Here that was achieved by setting it in the 1950s, in an haute-couture world.

This changed setting stays entirely faithful to the spirit of an opera that is about the vanity and shallowness of appearance. That’s where Finnman’s costumes come in, and she has clearly revelled in the opportunities. This be Thisbe (Sylvia Szadovszki), the younger of the two ‘ugly’ sisters, appears in a leopard-spotted suit that could have come from Christian Dior, topped by a hairstyle made famous by Vidal Sassoon. Her sister Clorinda (Caitlin Wood) is contrasted in Dior’s frilly petticoat look, and indeed those petticoats, layers of poppy and white, are eventually revealed.

The men are not forgotten: Dandini (Michael Nyby), disguised as a dandy of a Prince, is resplendent in a wonderful white coat, and Finnman is not afraid to show the exact opposite in the unflattering, unwashed costume she has created for the first entrance of Don Magnifico (Peter McGillivray).

But this theme is more than just visual delight. For the character of Aldoro (Stephen Hegedus), the philosopher who is the equivalent of the fairy godmother in the opera, is presented as Karl Lagerfeld, the Chanel fashion designer, silver pony-tailed hair, dark sunglasses, and all.

Gradually one realizes that he is probably manipulating the whole proceedings (he indeed is the last person on stage). Questions, too, remain about how much — or how little — Cenerentola herself (Krisztina Szabó) is seduced by all this, for all her protestations at the end about forgiveness and goodness.

She is neat and dapper when she is the Cinders servant, but she appears at the ball in a classic Audrey Hepburn look, scarf and sunglasses, and in the final scene her wedding dress seemed inspired by the Givenchy bridal gown which Hepburn wore in Funny Face. The clothes do indeed seem to make the person.

The cast is splendid, both in their acting and their singing. Their sense of ensemble is so strong that it is invidious to single out any one performance.

Nyby is consistently engaging as Dandini, with just the right touch of exaggeration when disguised as the Prince, and what a fine baritone he is.

Szadovszki pouted and flirted as Thisbe as if to the manner born, and she and Wood, as sometimes the only two female voices in a large male ensemble, more than held their own.

McGillivray as the boorish stepfather always threatened to go over the top without actually doing so, in a very comic performance.

Tessier’s effortlessly light tenor is just right as the Prince, suggesting an underlying innocence that makes perfect sense when he falls for the servant girl.

Szabó, as Cenerentola herself, encompassed both innocent charm and later more sophistication. When Rossini finally allows her to really let go vocally, with bel canto decoration at the end of the opera, she showed why she will be making her Covent Garden debut in a new George Benjamin opera next year.

Melissa Cuerrier’s sets are simple, but well suited to the stage action. The orchestra, conducted with good pacing by Peter Dala, are behind the stage. This foregrounds the singers, and contributes to the clarity of individual voices in the many ensembles in the opera.

There were, perhaps inevitably given the hectic pace of so much of the music, a few moments when singers and orchestra were not entirely in accord, and I did miss the thrust and detail of the orchestral writing, rather lost at the back of the stage.

That was perhaps inevitable, given the style of the presentation. For this production is bubbling comedic acting, infectious singing, and a mirror held up to the vanities of our age.

Review: Rossini Cenerentola (Cinderella)

Organization: Edmonton Opera

Director: Robert Herriot

Conductor: Peter Dala

Starring: Stephen Hegedus, Peter McGillivray, Michael Nyby, Krisztina Szabó, Sylvia Szadovszki, John Tessier, and Caitlin Wood

When: Saturday, Feb. 4

Where: Jubilee

Further performances: Tuesday, Feb. 7 (7:30 p.m.), Thursday, Feb. 9 (7:30 p.m.) Tickets: $40-$150 edmontonopera.com