By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Here we have yet another Cinderella. The iconic fairy tale character has had many lives on the screen and stage both in opera and musical theater, including a leading role in Sondheim’s folk tale mashup “Into the Woods.”
All have their twists. Pauline Viardot, a legendary singer turned composer, in “Cendrillon” applies a lighter touch to her Cinderella, who is called here Marie. Composed for Viardot’s own salon, “Cendrillon” makes for an evening of light entertainment to be presented by young singers.
Viardot’s “Cendrillon” will be on stage in the Donnell Theatre in the Wolfe Center for the Arts Friday, March 22, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 24, at 3 p.m. The operetta is a joint production of the BGSU Opera Theater and the Department of Theatre and Film. Kevin Phares directs. Kevin Bylsma serves music coordinator and Emily Freeman Brown conducts the orchestra. Click for tickets.
This is Cinderella with softer edges, far more comedy than drama, and lovely singing. The script includes brief passages of dialogue to keep the story on track.
The stepsisters are not evil or mean, just inconsiderate and self-centered.
At Tuesday’s dress rehearsal and on Friday, they were played by Deja Jennings and Sydney Shook.
(The four lead female roles are double cast. Sofia Vasileiadou and Selah-Marie Castellano will play the stepsisters on Sunday.)
The father, Baron de Pictordu (Zachary Sanford) is bumbling and again inconsiderate. He ignores his daughter Marie (Trinity Hines-Anthony) as he stumbles into the living room of his well-appointed 1950s suburban home.
Still Marie, our Cinderella, is undeterred. She lives to love and serve, so that everyone is happy. Finding her prince seems more a dream than an urgency. (The role is performed by Kirsten Kidd on Sunday.)
We get very little back story on the family arrangement, either the marriage that produced Marie, or the marriage that brought the stepsisters into the household. We do know that the baron once owned a shop and was imprisoned for selling stale cinnamon bread.
The fairy godmother (Carolyn Anderson) says she was the best friend of Marie’s mother, and they did everything together. This godmother does more than pop up and wave a wand. She is by Marie’s side or nearby as the magic takes hold. (Anderson is the godmother on Sunday and Joicy Carvalho plays the role on Friday.)
Marie’s kindness leads her to let in a hungry wanderer. She gives him a slice of bread – we trust not stale – and the few coins she has. But she must hustle him out just as her sisters enter the room. They are less charitable.
That beggar is actually Prince Charming (Andrew Puschel) in disguise. Like any good prince, he’s trying to connect with the common folks. Just a little later he’s back, only now disguised as his valet to deliver invitations to a party at his penthouse. This soiree intended to help find himself a princess.
Yes, Marie as good-hearted as she is clearly not very observant, but she does take a shine to the messenger.
As with the baron’s house, Kelly Mangan’s design of the swanky penthouse captures the feel of the ‘50s.
The stepsisters tease Marie about not going to the party, but the godmother shows up and does her magic with pumpkin, mice, snakes, and a rat.
The Prince again reverts to subterfuge, and asks his valet Barigoule (Jonathan Kroeger) to pretend to be the prince. Apparently Charming has been out of the country, so no one knows what he looks like. Barigoule is more than happy to be prince and the ladies’ focus of attention for one night at least.
The party features arias sung by partygoers played by Cassie Wilson, who sings one from Rossini’s “Italian in Algiers,” and Emma Clark, also assistant director, who sings one from Puccini’s “La Boheme.”Then Anderson as the godmother calls Bylsma onstage, so he can accompany her on piano for a lustrous version of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s ballad “My Ship,” sung while Prince Charming and Marie dance.
No spoiler here, the plot resolves as expected with the stray slipper routine. No stepsisters have their heels trimmed to fit in the shoe in this version.
There’s an added comic bit when the count and the baron realize they know each other from their days working in the grocery store. That may seem random, but it is in keeping with the frivolous nature of the piece. At about 90 minutes with two short intermissions, the audience will be out and humming after a visit with some familiar characters all dressed up in a different guise.
