Cinderella - English Touring Opera
The experience is a delight from start to finish
Norwich Theatre
Live opera returns to Norwich this week, and what a joy that is, especially after the decision by at least one visiting company to cease touring following the cut in their Arts Council funding. However, English Touring Opera are welcomed back to Norwich Theatre Royal this autumn, and with two very differing productions. Last night they charmed and excited us with Rossini's La Cenerentola, otherwise known as Cinderella. Later in the week they perform Monteverdi’s ‘The Coronation of Poppea’.
Everybody is familiar with the traditional pantomime version of Cinderella, but the essence of that story, one of a poor girl who goes on to marry a prince, appears in many, many forms. Rossini wrote his opera version in 1816, at a time when the ‘opera buffa’ tradition was in full swing. His previous comedy, 'The Barber of Seville', had opened earlier that year and had been a huge success. In fact, it is still to this day, considered one of the finest comic operas of all time. ‘La Cenerentola’ was, in fact, his hastily conceived follow-up.
English Touring Opera's 'Cinderella' opens in a museum gallery, with display cases containing mannequin versions of Cinderella and the two step-sisters. Basia Bińkowska's novel set thus becomes the setting for this entire two-act opera, with performers arriving and leaving via a variety of museum packing crates, maintenance platforms, and even upon a giant statue of a white horse. Above the exhibits there is an inscription, “La Mia Vendetta Sarà Il Loro Perdono”, or 'My Revenge Will Be Their Forgiveness'. It is that inscription that encapsulates the entire spirit and message of 'La Cerentola'. Whilst the plot remains recognisable to those familiar with English pantomime, Rossini's version is much, much darker.
The fortune that Cinderella inherited from her mother has been frittered away by her stepfather and two stepsisters, leaving them in danger of social ostracization. The only solution would appear to be to persuade the Prince, Ramiro, to marry one of his two own daughters.
Of course, we all know how the story ends, but how we arrive there is a via a fast-paced musical farce, expertly executed thanks to precise direction from Jenny Ogilvie; a cleverly-constructed razor-sharp, and very funny, comic libretto by Christopher Cowell; the orchestra (tonight conducted by James Ham) and, of course, by the singers themselves.
Esme Bronwen-Smith is absolutely enchanting as Cinderella – beautiful and of powerful vocal clarity, expressing both the resilience and compassion that the role demands. No surprise at all to discover that this young British mezzo-soprano was awarded First Prize at the 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
Zazan Fikret and Lauren Young gamely ham it up as stepsisters Clorinda and Tisbe, whilst their duet at the beginning of Act 2 becomes one of the magical high points of the entire show. Arshak Kuzikyan similarly impresses as the wonderfully-named stepfather Don Magnifico.
But the success of 'La Cenerentola' hinges on how the game of deception is played out as Prince Ramiro (Joseph Doody) and his valet Dandini (Edmund Danon) exchange places. It is they who get some of the best scenes and the best lines - “I am not a Super-hero, I am just a fake Ramiro”, from Dandini being one of the most memorable and laugh-out-loud comedic. Meanwhile, in a gender-twist from the traditional pantomime, it is the museum curator Alidoro, played by Edward Hawkins, who becomes the true matchmaker and fairy-godmother, recognising Cinderella's true virtue when she shares her food with him in the museum.
There is a lot of energy in this production from English Touring Opera, and at rips along at a truly frenetic pace, but the experience is a delight from start to finish and, more importantly, its powerful message of compassion and virtue also shines through from beginning to end.
