by T. LeRoy Perreira
You won't find a magical pumpkin carriage driven by mice outside the Lucie Stern Theatre this weekend. But you might come away with a glass slipper just your size. West Bay Opera opened its 39th season last Friday night with Rossini's all-too-rarely performed Cinderella fable "La Cenerentola," (pronounced Chen-eh-rehn-tola).
Never mind the one-dimensional character development. This is opera buffa, and it works. The lighthearted situations are frivolous, the dialogues whimsical (thanks to the reverent wit of Donald Pippin's English translation), and above all the opera delivers a score that bubbles, pops and fizzes.
Though the libretto omits all the enchanted elements familiar to us in the original childhood tale, including the fairy godmother, pumpkins, mice and midnight chimes, there are enough musical gems here to make one wonder why this melodrama isn't given half the attention lavished on Rossini's oft-performed masterpiece "The Barber of Seville."
One answer could be that the score, riddled with immense technical difficulties, presents a vocal minefield--one which the West Bay singers courageously navigated, albeit not without some casualties.
The opera, a revival of a 1986 production, this time under the direction of Willene Gunn, is introduced by Margaret Lisi as Cinderella, who sings of her misfortunes while her two churlish stepsisters Clorinda (Carol Lynn Rohr) and Thisbe (Constance Howard) are busy primping. The "ugly sisters" are perfectly costumed by designer Maria Crush in tight corsets and ridiculous pantaloons that radiate in colors so garish we wonder if film director John Waters was consulted. A movable feast, those two.
Magnifico awakes and tells of a bizarre dream which he interprets as confirmation that one of his daughters will marry the prince, Don Ramiro. After an awkward bit of staging in which he bounces each daughter on his knee, a chorus of not less than 12 tulip-clutching men enter courting the sisters. Let the games begin.
Ramiro, disguised as his own lackey Dandini, enters and falls instantly in love (surprise!) with the barefoot heroine. A feather of space separates their lips at the end of a hot and tender duet before the train of chorus men barrels back onto stage announcing the arrival of the prince (actually Dandini disguised as his master) who has come to extend invitations to a ball. And so the story goes.
Lisi gives us a soothingly dark and appropriately demure Act I soprano. It is only gradually that one begins to yearn for more tonal shades of color in a role that, by Act II requires a larger range. Still, her florid passages throughout were easily the vocal highlight of the evening.
Rohr's creditable soprano and Howard's sweet mezzo sprinkled the ensemble work with pleasant bird-song patter.
The men did not fare so well. Michael Morris strutted and mugged Don Magnifico into an unbearable rather than irresistible buffoon. In his company debut, David Oliver made a handsome Ramiro but was challenged with a light, reedy tenor that wrestled hard with the top notes. Also making his debut was Robert Stafford as Dandini who charmed the sisters and the audience.
One regret: Much of the lightning-speed phrasing that characterizes the Rossinian coloratura is lost in a sung English that can best be described as pure stammer during much of the ensemble work.
Music Director Henry Mollicone led the orchestra with verve, though the pacing screamed for more gallop. Veronika Agranov's accompaniment on harpsichord was deft. The men's chorus almost stole the show with every entrance.
The opera is double-cast: Sarah Blaze is the alternate Cinderella, Roger McCracken is Don Magnifico, Eileen Morris and Sylvie Braitman Chouraki the two sisters, Stephen Rumph plays Don Ramiro and Leland Morine his valet.
Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Puccini's "La Boheme" will round out West Bay Opera's season.
La Cenerentola
Who: West Bay Opera
When: 8:15 p.m. Oct. 21 and 22; 2 p.m. Oct. 23
Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
Cost: $29 ($15 for youth on Sunday matinee only)
Information: 424-9999
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