Massenet composed his opera about Cenerentola nearly 80 years after Rossini did his. And if you are looking for the outburst of the non-stop hilarity and the musical jokes of Rossini, you won't find it here. Also, while the Cendrillon was highly successful and popular in its time, it does not reach up to the artistic and musical levels offered by Massenet's other operas, like Manon, or Thais or Werther. Nevertheless, this is a delightful opera and it is well presented by The Royal Opera. Laurent Pelly created a ingenious setting with movable walls which are covered [in French] with the story of Cinderella, and which open and close book-like.
Alice Coote
as Le Prince Charmant
Joyce DiDonato
as Cendrillon / Lucette
Eglise Gutiérrez
as La Fée
Jean-Philippe Lafont
as Pandolfe, Cendrillon’s father
Ewa Podleś
as Madame de la Haltière, stepmother of Cendrillon
Madeleine Pierard
as Noémie, stepsister of Cendrillon
Kai Rüütel
as Dorothée, stepsister of Cendrillon
Jeremy White
as Le Roi
Harry Nicoll
as Le Doyen de la Faculté
Dawid Kimberg
as Le Surintendant des plaisirs
John-Owen Miley-Read
as Le Premier Ministre
Adrien Mastrosimone
as Le Héraut
