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Live from the Met puts on classic Cinderella story

Director Laurent Pelly brings the storybook to life at Salmar Classic through his set and costumes
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Cendrillon HD Live from the Met, the classic Cinderella story, will be presented at the Salmar Classic Theatre on Saturday, April 28 at 9:55 a.m. (Photo contributed)

For the first time in its history, the Met presents Cendrillon – Jules Massenet’s (1842 - 1912) lush operatic adaptation of the classic Cinderella story. The French text is by Henri Cain. Cendrillon HD Live from the Met will be at the Salmar Classic theatre on Saturday, April 28 at 9:55 a.m.

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in this sumptuous and whimsical take on the Cinderella story. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote sings the trouser role of Prince Charming, soprano Kathleen Kim is the effervescent Fairy Godmother and Stephanie Blythe is the imperious Madame de la Haltière, the wicked stepmother. Bertrand de Billy conducts.

Cendrillon is a character familiar to so many. She is a girl who holds onto hope and to the idea that goodness and love really conquer. Massenet gives romance, magic and the longing and melancholy of this young girl’s world. She longs for her mother and for that ‘love-at-first-sight’ element with her prince. And, of course, there is the magic and the glass slipper and the power of love.

Director Laurent Pelly grew up having his grandmother read the original Cinderella story by Charles Perrault out of a wonderful picture book with great calligraphy and big letters and lots of drawings and illustrations. In this production, he whimsically brings that storybook to life through his set and costumes. He writes the story out in French on the walls of his set and brings imagination to life through a character that is purity, goodness and innocence.

When asked what audiences should expect to take away from a performance of Cendrillon, Joyce DiDonato said: “This opera invites joy. Sure, along the way there’s a little bit of tragedy and a little bit of hardship, but at the end, it’s joy. It’s a gift that you give yourself – to come in and spend a few hours with us, where we get to actually lift you up and give you an experience that you can’t have anywhere else. Moments like that are what I love about opera. Opera is one of the remaining things that we have that blasts open this world of sound and vision and magic and emotion – deep emotion. It’s a fantastic moment to just embrace that idea that the power of love can conquer – that goodness wins out. I truly think people are hungry for that.”