Presents:
Cendrillon
Jules Massenet
20, 22, 23, 27, 28 and 30 December 2013 and 2, 3, 5 and 7 January 2014
A fairy tale
Jules Massenet’s score makes it perfectly clear: Cendrillon is a fairy tale. Laurent Pelly takes the line of least resistance and creates a show that sweeps us away on a wave of fantasy, an elegant fin-de-siècle pastiche that blends melancholy and humour, naïve and poetic elements, 18th-century galant style and the lightness of Rossini. This evocative haven of sound accompanies a mise en scène reminiscent of the sumptuousness of French operetta and the sense of magic and surprise of a Disney classic. Touches of irony avert the danger of sugariness and there are well-aimed nods to comics. The production – Pelly’s tribute to Perrault and his immortal tale – is a book of fairy tales come to life, in which literature, music and drama combine to conjure up an entrancing and delectable world.
Conductor
Andrew Davis
Stage direction
Laurent Pelly
Scenography
Barbara de Limburg
Costume
Laurent Pelly
In collaboration with Jean-Jacques Delmotte
Lighting
Duane Schuler
Choreography
Laura Scozzi
New Co-production
Gran Teatre del Liceu / Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London) / Théâtre
Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) / Opéra de Lille
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
CAST
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| Cendrillon | Joyce DiDonato | 20, 23, 27 and 30 Dec, 2 and 5 Jan |
| Karine Deshayes | 22 and 28 Dec, 3 and 7 Jan | |
| Madame de la Haltièr | Ewa Podles | 20, 23, 27 and 30 Dec, 2 and 5 Jan |
| Doris Lamprecht | 22 and 28 Dec, 3 and 7 Jan | |
| Príncep encantador | Alice Coote | 20, 23, 27 and 30 Dec, 2 and 5 Jan |
| Michèle Losier | 22 and 28 Dec, 3 and 7 Jan | |
| La fada | Annick Massis | 20, 23, 27 and 30 Dec, 2 and 5 Jan |
| Eglise Gutiérrez | 22 and 28 Dec, 3 and 7 Jan | |
| Noèmie | Cristina Obregón | |
| Dorothée | Marisa Martins | |
| Pandolfe | Laurent Naouri | 20, 23, 27 and 30 Dec, 2 and 5 Jan |
| Marc Barrard | 22 and 28 Dec, 3 and 7 Jan | |
| El rei | Isaac Galán |
A «Fairy tales» in four acts. Libretto by Henri Cain based on Charles Perrault’s version of the story of Cinderella. Music by Jules Massenet. Premiered on 24 May 1899 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. First performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Opera, My Love Magazine 