Nice job, Chicago!  Time to take on the funniest composition from my man Rossini, and come up with a completely engaging comedy, breaking away from the serious and weighty standards of old opera.

If you can get this from 19th century opera, why would you bother with the horrifying Tosca, or the giant lead weight of Flying Dutchman?  I wouldn’t.

Not sure we need to publicize it as “Cinderella”.  Guess that helps with some of the audience, but really, Rossini and his guy Ferretti have twisted up the traditional story so much, in the interest of humor, we don’t want go in there thinking there’s going to be a pumpkin coach and a mean stepmom.

Corbelli hops and jumps around, the oldest comedy baritone ever, still belting it out at 71.  Looks like he’s 90, acts like he’s 25.   This mezzo, V. Berzhanskaya from Russia, and her tenor prince Jack Swanson (from suburban Minneapolis) have the articulation nailed.  Then here comes Joshua Hopkins, just as funny as he was as Belcore in 2021, doing it up again.

This is the Ponnelle production, and what we see is a much better stage set than New York keeps dragging out.  We don’t need the stark empty house with the yards of torn wallpaper, all the blank space, and the donkey actually on the roof.  What we need is this complicated busted mansion, stairway shot to hell, walls and doorways opening and closing.  Excellent!

How do they change scenes?  Not too obvious – is something rotating, or are there major pieces that they haul in and out?  I couldn’t tell, but what helped was, they put some action in front of the closed curtain – nice diversion – so they could rebuild the place while the show goes on. 

Huge success with the baton, Yi-Chen Lin.  But I hope they tighten up the last chunks of the fast rhythm stuff before the run ends in this town.  We amateurs notice this sort of thing.  Sure, it’s really hard with what the R & F team have flipped you here, but everything else is perfect.  We don’t want the orchestra to be ¼ beat behind the singers; shakes up the brain.

Is it as hilarious as the Lievi production they’ve been running in New York since the 1990’s?  Maybe.  Of course, one has to compete with Lawrence Brownlee joking around with the shockingly beautiful Elīna Garanča in 2009, and Flórez with DiDonato in 2014, and that’s tough.  And they both have Corbelli running wild.

Another factor is, there’s nothing like a close-up camera shot to see the expressions on the faces (and to know for sure who exactly is singing), and I’m not the only one who misses the nuance from the mid-priced seats way back here in row MM.  Hopkins doing Dandini -- there’s a funny guy, but it’s got to be better if you can watch closely.  And how great are the two weird sisters, and Nicholas Newton carefully singing Alidoro?  I couldn’t tell!  Good costumes.  Need my binoculars.

(I goofed.  For Cenerentola, should have put up the money for a close-in seat, and got the most out of the comedy.  Instead, I sat up front in 2021, for that oppressive Magic Flute, which would have been better viewed through a telescope, from a nearby planet.  Lord.  That was an animation movie, not an opera.)

Another thing that could add another spice to Cenerentola, my opinion: I see a couple of scenes where more action would have fit – I was expecting it.  Sure, they’re singing great, and the music is the best, but if the cast or the chorus or whoever, just stands still, you’re missing an opportunity.  All these different ways the various productions do the funny song toward the end, where they discover she’s not just their scrub maid (it’s called “Siete Voi”).  But with Ponnelle, everyone just kind of scoots around a little.  Good place to make a splash, but no.

Anyway, it was big fun.  The routine is solid, what with the pre-show dinner in Greektown with saganaki and dry white wine, and a bracing walk over to Wacker Drive, even in the rain.  

Finally, a quick tip of the sprung gibus to the lively couple there with their regular seats in MM.  They like Wagner as well as Rossini, but they seemed level-headed otherwise.  And they recommended the final soprano aria in Tristan & Isolde (oh, no!) and the New Year’s Eve Fledermaus in Vienna (let’s take a look!).