“Cendrillon” reviewed by Jacob Davis

Highly Recommended *****  When Jules Massenet adapted Cinderella, he intended for it to sparkle. France’s Opéra-Comique staged Cendrillon’s premiere in 1899 with new equipment and lavish decorations for the occasion. It was an instant success, but Cendrillon has drifted in and out of popularity and is only now playing at the Lyric Opera for the first time. Director/costume designer Laurent Pelly and set designer Barbara de Limburg have a different concept than Massenet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream-inspired setting; this one is urban, comparatively simpler, and framed by Charles Perrault’s famous book of fairytales. It invites us into the mercurial images we form as we layer imagined images on top of texts. And conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Massenet’s late Romantic music is nothing short of spellbinding.

We begin with a chorus of servants skittering around the house of Pandolfe (Derek Welton), and his new wife, Madame De la Haltière (Elizabeth Bishop). He chose poorly, and the servants let him know it. He concedes his complicity in his opening aria and wishes his daughter, Lucette (Siobhan Stagg) was treated better, but feels helpless. Of course, we know that she also has a fairy godmother (Marie-Eve Munger) who will conduct her to meet Prince Charming (Alice Coote), but this fairy desires them to make a slightly more substantial connection than is typical in Cinderella retellings. Lucette would like a mended relationship with her father, too, if he can deserve it.

Although this is the Lyric’s first Cendrillon, they mounted Gioachino Rossini’s version recently, and people who saw the Italian version should know they are not at all the same. Whereas Rossini’s version is a raucous comedy, Cendrillon librettist Henri Cain wrote much of this adaptation in rhyme, and Massenet’s chime and bell accented orchestrations sound delicately eerie. Sir Andrew Davis fluidly alternates between baroque marches and ballets at the palace and the nocturnal melodies of sprite-filled dreamscapes. But there is one uproariously funny presence: that of Elizabeth Bishop’s Madame. Tragically born too soon for reality TV, she rolls in with her miniature copies (Emily Pogorelc and Kayleigh Decker) scheming to nab a prince and put all the trashy people in their place. In her Lyric debut, Bishop’s a fine singing actress; her song “Lorsqu’on a plus de vingt quartiers,” about her illustrious albeit illegitimate pedigree, is a delightful bit of boasting. But just her pronunciation of the word insolent will earn her a permanent place in many audience members’ hearts.

And what of Cinderella? This is soprano Siobhan Stagg’s American debut, and her grace is as otherworldly as anything in the fairytale. Her first aria, about what it means to be Cinderella, is chilling and her duet with the prince, when she feels powerful for the first time, is mesmerizing. Her voice as she describes fleeing the ball at midnight conjures nightmarish shadows, but when Lucette recalls the death of her mother, she bursts with anger. Derek Welton (also making his American debut) has a natural chemistry with her as her regretful, grieving father that forms the emotional core of the story. Stagg’s movements, which suggest Lucette may be part fey herself, are mimicked by a throng of dancers in surreal images devised by French choreographer Laura Scozzi. They ring both her and Marie-Eve Munger’s Fairy Godmother, whose haughtiness matches that of Madame, but whose voice commands without need for effort. Alice Coote’s Prince Charming is, like the rest of the royal court, in large part a fancy toy. He comes across as very innocent, and very unprepared for his arranged marriage. But the falcon’s second aria with Stagg, in the opera’s most original contribution to the Cinderella story, is an appropriate climax to a fairy tale romance that emphasizes the mysterious, whimsical, and dark.

Cendrillon will continue at the Civic Opera House, 20 N Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago, thru January 20, 2019, with the following showtimes:

December 5:      2:00 pm

December 8:      7:30 pm

January 11:         7:00 pm

January 17:         7:00 pm

January 20:         2:00 pm

Running time is two hours and forty-five minutes with one intermission.

The Lyric offers parking deals with Poetry Garage at 201 W Madison St. if inquired about in advance. Visit LyricOpera.org or call 321-827-5600.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Cendrillon/Cinderella.”