Last night was Utah Opera’s performance of Rossini’s Cinderella – a slightly different version of the classic fairytale. Apparently, “Cinderella” means “goodness triumphant” so with this slightly modified version of the story, the lead is actually “Angelina” (although they still refer to her as Cinderella in the Opera) and she wins the prince’s love because of her kind heart and giving nature.
The story is set in approximately the 1920’s with a selfish, mean and yet somewhat comedic step-father and 2 self-centered mean half-sisters. Instead of a coach and horses taking her to the ball, Cinderella arrives in a vintage car (it looked somewhat like a Duesenberg). And instead of a fairy godmother, she has a guardian angel, if you will (found in the prince’s tutor). All that, mixed in with the prince and his valet switching places for the evening of the ball, and it makes for a very intriguing and entertaining spin-off of the classic storyline.
The sets, costumes and story were all phenomenal and the whole experience was very entertaining! One challenge they faced was the volume of the singers, as it was very hard to hear them at times (Cinderella especially), however, the performance is still very worth seeing!
I highly encourage everyone to go check it out if you haven’t yet. It runs through the 16th so there is still time, but not much! Better hurry! http://www.utahopera.org/concert-detail.php?id=25#tickets
Even if you aren't normally an Opera fan, I think you will enjoy this one. There were several opera novices sitting near me and they all seemed to very much enjoy the show. The storyline was familiar enough for them to easily follow just by watching, but the the addition of the "supertitles" its very simple to follow the dialogue. If you've been wanting to try an Opera, this is a good one to start with!
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