By Anna Barker
A white stag appeared in the chateau moat. For fear of startling him, yet desperately wanting to take a photo, I slowly reached for my phone—when all of a sudden the stag looked directly at me, slowly turned his exquisite horn-bedecked head towards the moat wall, then in the opposite direction—he was posing!
Thus began my introduction to the magical world of Charles Perrault (1628-1703) at the Château de Breteuil, one hour southwest of Paris, dedicated to tales such as “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” and their author.
Written for Charles Perrault’s four children, the “Tales” inspired countless composers, including Peter Tchaikovsky, whose 1890 ballet “Sleeping Beauty” became the foundation for the 1959 Disney animated feature film. Another Russian composer, César Cui, turned the whimsical tales into children’s operas “Little Red Riding Hood” (1911) and “Puss in Boots” (1913). “Bluebeard” inspired several opera adaptations, including the haunting “Duke Bluebeard's Castle” (1918) by Béla Bartók.
And then there is “Cinderella,” or “La Cenerentola” in the 1817 operatic incarnation by Gioachino Rossini, or “Золушка” in Sergei Prokofiev’s 1945 ballet version, and, of course, "Cendrillon,” Jules Massenet’s (1842-1912) opera, which premiered at the Paris Opéra-Comique on May 24, 1899.
Forget Disney or Rodgers and Hammerstein—Massenet’s “Cendrillion” is a very French Cinderella indeed. It retains the structure of the original tale, the Fairy Godmother and the glass slipper playing a crucial plot-advancing role, but substitutes magic pumpkins and mice with dream sequences worthy of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night's Dream.
As Ben Robinson, the director of the Cedar Rapids Opera production, suggests:
"Massenet has a great capacity for infusing beauty and lightness into his scores. This setting of “Cendrillon” seeks to amplify this aesthetic while focusing on the passage of time. Of course, we think about Cinderella's strict curfew, but this opera also explores the seasons of life and hope.”
The cast of the Cedar Rapids Opera production is full of magical surprises, the greatest being the childhood friendship between Abigail Rethwisch (Cinderella) and Laura Krumm (Prince Charming), who attended City High School in Iowa City. They last performed together in 2005 when Abby played French horn in the pit band and Laura was singing in 4th Avenue Jazz Co. (City High’s Show Choir).
Please join the Anna Barker Opera Tales Book Club at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12 for a discussion of the Charles Perrault fairy tales and the music they inspired. Zoom registration on the Cedar Rapids Opera website.
In-person “Curtain Talks” will be delivered one hour before the performances of “Cinderella” at the Paramount Theatre. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19.
In mid-January, let us abandon ourselves to “a familiar, well-trod story awash in the wonder of Massenet's sparkling music and Henri Caïn's witty, wordy, and wonderful libretto” (Ben Robinson) and transport ourselves into a world where white deer roam in chateau moats, slippers determine fates, and true love triumphs in the end.
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