La Cenerentola ~ Cinderella ~ Cendrillon
The University of Utah School of Music and Departments of Ballet and Art & Art History come together for an historic collaboration on three major productions, all based on the celebrated story of Cinderella. This spring’s performances will be a beautiful illustration of how space and time affect the telling of some of our most treasured stories. February 13 and 14, The Lyric Opera Ensemble with Paradigm Orchestra will perform Rossini’s opera, La Cenerentola, in Libby Gardner Hall. On April 3 and 4, Utah Ballet with the Utah Philharmonia Orchestra present Prokofiev’s ballet, Cinderella, at Kingsbury Hall, and on April 24 and 25, The Lyric Opera Ensemble and the Utah Philharmonia Orchestra will perform Massenet’s opera, Cendrillon, at Kingsbury Hall.
An ancient European folk tale with hundreds of variants, Cinderella charms and entertains in any language. Rossini, Prokofiev, and Massenet chose different narrative elements, but the basic story of a heroine who overcomes unjust oppression by virtue of her kindness and bravery remains intact in all three.
One of Arthur Rackham's illustrations from an early edition of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Cinderella (Aschenputtel in German) is going to the ball.
Rossini’s 1817 opera, composed shortly after his Barber of Seville, emphasizes Cinderella’s good nature, and contains no magic at all. Rossini’s version is light and witty, filled with vocal acrobatics. To highlight this, Ellis has set the opera in the 1980s, drawing on pop icons of the time. “The stepsisters are modeled after Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, the prince modeled after JFK Jr., the prince’s bodyguard after Elton John, and the stepfather after the artist formerly known as Prince,” says Ellis. “I expect that it will be a very fun evening.”
Prokfiev’s jubilant 1945 ballet gets an exciting makeover with new choreography by Jay Kim and a steampunk design treatment. Steampunk, a science fiction subgenre, reimagines modern technology as steam-powered, usually to the setting of Victorian England or the American “Wild West.” The ballet will also feature new backdrops created by students from the Department of Art & Art History. Professor V. Kim Martinez came up with the idea for her murals class. “Her students produced over ninety preliminary conceptual renderings for the drops,” explains Department of Ballet Acting Chair Brent Schneider “eighteen final renderings developed, and three were eventually chosen for the production.”
The show will be musically rewarding too. “The students of the Phil have an incredible opportunity to perform a complete ballet,” remarks conductor Robert Baldwin, “in this case a score from arguably the finest ballet composer of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev.” Prokofiev’s version of the story contains a good deal of wacky comedy, and Cinderella is rewarded for her kindness to an old beggar woman who later reveals herself to be the fairy godmother.
Cendrillon will also be steampunk-themed, and will actually contain the backdrops and a segment of dance from the Prokofiev production. But even with similar design elements, the two productions will be very different. “If you go to both, you’ll see a big difference in the storytelling,” says Breault. Perhaps most exciting is that this intensely beautiful work is so rarely performed. “Nobody’s heard this live here in Utah,” he says, “I think this music is ethereal; it is so beautiful. Massenet was like the French Puccini—hugely popular in his day, but we don’t get to hear it that much now.”
Art work for the original production of Massenet's Cendrillon
All three productions are family friendly, and audiences will enjoy seeing the different interpretations on a beloved story. “There is nothing quite like this that we’ve done since I’ve been here,” remarks Breault, “the different versions reveal remarkable breadth in the style of storytelling.”