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OCP's "Cinderella' (third review)
Eat your heart out, Disney
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
Even in the gilded world of classic opera, the realities of the shrinking arts dollar come into play. Like Shakespearean theater and classical ballet, opera must find new ways to compete in a cultural ash heap of pop extravaganzas. Opera companies must look to concepts that satisfy the old-world guardians who resist change while giving new audiences something more than big egos, musty costumes and battered scenery.
Director Baz Lurhmann successfully brought La Boheme to Broadway in 2004, introducing a “Puccini lite” version updated to Paris in the 1950s. At the other end of the spectrum, an audaciously severe PBS 2001 Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Tristan and Isolde had the singers mostly seen in (large) silhouette lumbering around an austere landscape. The design hardly mattered, because vocally the production was undoubtedly “grand.”
The Opera Company of Philadelphia made a conceptually bold statement last month with a ‘50/’60s kitschy-era Cinderella. Director Davide Livermore’s inspired remake was Rossini à la Grease, with the wicked stepsisters in curlers, and the heroine herself in poodle-skirts instead of washrags and riding a motorcycle instead of a carriage. It was so wacky that any effort to resist its charms would be boorish. Who cares if this tacky popcorn fired and misfired with its overdone Formica accents? Vocally (and orchestrally) it was as solid as Florentine marble.
The Lichtenstein landscapes and hearts, projected on three hovering screens, wore out their novelty early on. Even though the orchestra engaged throughout, Cinderella's score ran out of steam; conductor Corrado Rovaris could easily have dumped a half-hour from this remake. Daniel Belcher’s hilarious turn as Dandini was inspired as he scatted through Rossini roulades as coolly as Ella. Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, as the Prince Don Ramiro masquerading as a servant, handled the comedy low-key, but vocally commanded in his second act back-to-back numbers.
Despite her sincerity, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose’s Cinderella is a bore, but her voice was both steely and charming. OCP favorite Kevin Glavin not only delivered in unctuously fine voice as Don Magnifico, he did it standing in yellow drawers, with his chubby knees gracing the Academy stage. Finally, the elephant in the room sang, and it was truly grand.
To read Dan Rottenberg's review, click here.
To read Steve Cohen's review, click here.
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
Even in the gilded world of classic opera, the realities of the shrinking arts dollar come into play. Like Shakespearean theater and classical ballet, opera must find new ways to compete in a cultural ash heap of pop extravaganzas. Opera companies must look to concepts that satisfy the old-world guardians who resist change while giving new audiences something more than big egos, musty costumes and battered scenery.
Director Baz Lurhmann successfully brought La Boheme to Broadway in 2004, introducing a “Puccini lite” version updated to Paris in the 1950s. At the other end of the spectrum, an audaciously severe PBS 2001 Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Tristan and Isolde had the singers mostly seen in (large) silhouette lumbering around an austere landscape. The design hardly mattered, because vocally the production was undoubtedly “grand.”
The Opera Company of Philadelphia made a conceptually bold statement last month with a ‘50/’60s kitschy-era Cinderella. Director Davide Livermore’s inspired remake was Rossini à la Grease, with the wicked stepsisters in curlers, and the heroine herself in poodle-skirts instead of washrags and riding a motorcycle instead of a carriage. It was so wacky that any effort to resist its charms would be boorish. Who cares if this tacky popcorn fired and misfired with its overdone Formica accents? Vocally (and orchestrally) it was as solid as Florentine marble.
The Lichtenstein landscapes and hearts, projected on three hovering screens, wore out their novelty early on. Even though the orchestra engaged throughout, Cinderella's score ran out of steam; conductor Corrado Rovaris could easily have dumped a half-hour from this remake. Daniel Belcher’s hilarious turn as Dandini was inspired as he scatted through Rossini roulades as coolly as Ella. Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, as the Prince Don Ramiro masquerading as a servant, handled the comedy low-key, but vocally commanded in his second act back-to-back numbers.
Despite her sincerity, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose’s Cinderella is a bore, but her voice was both steely and charming. OCP favorite Kevin Glavin not only delivered in unctuously fine voice as Don Magnifico, he did it standing in yellow drawers, with his chubby knees gracing the Academy stage. Finally, the elephant in the room sang, and it was truly grand.
To read Dan Rottenberg's review, click here.
To read Steve Cohen's review, click here.
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