UofT Opera opened a sparkling new production of Massenet’s Cendrillon on March 15 at Toronto’s historic, neo-Baroque Elgin Theatre, the perfect setting for director Maria Lamont’s 1930s Busby Berkeley-inspired conception. Massenet’s 1899 version of the familiar Cinderella fairy tale, while not without its Belle Epoque froth, is also lined with a deeply moving vein of melancholy that was successfully brought to the fore by a promising band of student artists.
The Elgin’s acoustic is notoriously dry, and so it was perhaps fortuitous that conductor Sandra Horst elected to reduce the size of Massenet’s original orchestration, especially given the lack of a proper pit. The UofT musicians responded well to Horst’s tightly-controlled reading which never overwhelmed the young voices, and maintained admirable coordination with what was often a very busy onstage ensemble.
There were many admirable performances keeping in mind at this stage in their training, young artists are still learning how to project not only their vocal tone, but just as importantly, text and physicality into a large space. One of the most successful artists in this regard was baritone Ben Wallace as Lucette’s (Cendrillon) father, Pandolfe. With his sizable lyric baritone, Wallace already understands how to deliver French text clearly and idiomatically and relished the opportunity to physically inhabit his role as henpecked husband and doting father. Massenet is at his best in the slightly sad, but still warmly loving duets written for Pandolfe and Lucette, and Wallace mined their opportunities for pathos with care.
Ben Wallace (Pandolfe) in UofT Opera’s Cendrillon. Photo: Richard Lu
As Lucette, mezzo-soprano Ellita Gagner showed off a gorgeous, warm tone and winning, gamine personality. This is a long, demanding role, delivered charmingly but perhaps still lacking ideal clarity of text and specificity of body language. In Massenet’s version, Prince Charmant is a pants role, here sung beautifully by another mezzo, Lissy Meyerowitz. Her more focused sound contrasted nicely with Gagner’s resulting in some stunning harmonic effects in their two big duets. Meyerowitz was convincing as a lovelorn young man, and no doubt her vocal projection in the lower range will develop in time.
Another singer who is clearly a stage animal was coloratura soprano Teresa Tucci as La Fée, the Fairy Godmother. Along with her Six Esprits chorus girl sidekicks, the bejewelled and be-feathered Tucci showed off impressive vocal pyrotechnics and a saucy demeanour. In Lamont’s conception, La Fée and her troupe are clearly inspired by the Golden Era of Hollywood musicals and they pulled off some quite complex fan dancing impressively.
As in most iterations of the Cinderella tale, the heroine has to suffer abuse from her stepmother and two stepsisters. Kcenia Koutorjevski seized upon the role of a literally gun-toting Madame de la Haltière with relish even if her still-developing mezzo tone wasn’t ideally voluminous for a part usually given to bigger-voiced contraltos. Her scheming daughters, Noémie (soprano Jordana Goddard) and Dorothée (soprano Chihiro Yasufuku) delivered their prickly interjections with appropriately vicious intent.
Kcenia Koutorjevski (Madame de la Haltière), Jordana Goddard (Noémie) and Chihiro Yasufuku (Dorothée) in UofT Opera’s Cendrillon. Photo: Richard Lu
Michelle Tracey’s sets, Andrew Nasturzio and Alessia Urbani’s costumes and Gabriel Cropley’s lighting ensured a very polished aesthetic. They delivered an especially thrilling coup de théâtre in Act 3’s magical forest with its endlessly tall, conical gathered red curtain crowned by twinkling fairy lights which were also used effectively by the Six Spirits. Against a stark black background, these visuals melded perfectly with the dramatic, extended duet for Lucette and the Prince in which they journey from grief at being separated to one final chance to profess their undying love.
UofT Opera’s Cendrillon continues for three more performances with another chance to hear this cast on March 16, and an alternate set of performers on March 15 and 17.
