The lead role of Cendrillon—Cinderella in French—was sung by Joyce Didonato, a Kansas-born medium-range (mezzo) soprano who has made this a signature role for several years. Her voice is captivating from the first note; it's as though all the minor characters who set the scene for the story were just singing, while Ms. Didonato was making a sublime sound that she had invented herself.
At the same time, her wicked step-mother was sung by another mezzo, Stephanie Blythe, who has a true power-house voice; she is known for playing a goddess in one of Wagner's grand operas.
As if to make men irrelevant, the lead male role, Prince Charming, was also sung by a mezzo, Alice Coote, who has made a sort of specialty of singing men's roles. Which immediately invites the question, why write a man's role for a woman's voice? Two sopranos with perfectly matched voices singing romantic duets is a gorgeous sound, quite sublime. In fact, Massenet's ultimate goal with this opera was to create a context for this thrilling soprano sound.
It's very unusual to have three sopranos in the same range singing lead roles in an opera. To add highlights to the sound, the Fairy Godmother was sung with great flare in the highest range, by Kathleen Kim, a Korean-American who is a coloratura soprano. Although she was singing groups of very high notes, she never screeched; she entered each high note gently and and moved on with control.
In the lower range, there was only one significant male role, that of Cinderella's father; it was handled competently by Laurent Naouri, but he couldn't compete with the women, and didn't try to.
While we're talking about voices, we have to mention the orchestral parts. The orchestra not only supported the vocalists, but had an independent role in long passages right in the middle of the opera that have no words at all. The orchestra "sang" about what is going on in the hearts of Cinderella and Prince Charming; it set up the situation and mood; it marked the passage of time in the young lovers' lives.
Cendrillon was composed around 1900 by Jules Massenet, a Frenchman, in a style that is very French: romantic, graceful, frivolous, sentimental. For modern ears, it is so pretty that it is almost comical, almost embarrassing. Therefore the production designer, Laurent Pelly, who also designed the costumes, created a comedy context for his poignant romance.
The wicked Step-Mother and vain Step-Sisters were caricatured with silly costumes and stylized behavior.
The Met chorus and assorted dancers adopted a sort of tiptoe-through-the tulips prance, and mimed various phases of the Prince's Ball and the contest for his affections like fanciful marionettes. Overall, there was so much funny business and so many fanciful costumes, that the opera recalled Beach Blanket Babylon in its effect. Everything fit together so neatly it seemed that the music was written to support the comical dances, rather than the other way around.
Another comical aspect that was added by the production team was that the Fairy Godmother was shown hanging out in a giant library when she was off-duty. And, at the penultimate moment, when she brought the two lovers together in a moment of magical recognition, she was sitting on a tower of massive tomes! Laurent Pelly was paying tribute to the books that hold our dreams and myths.
Opera is about voices first and foremost, but all these great singers were also great actors. Ms Didonato is nearing 50 now, and will likely quit playing young women's roles soon, but she makes you feel the loneliness of a girl whose widowed father has remarried a woman with two daughters her age. Wouldn't the step-sisters feel that she was the interloper? Wouldn't they look down on her and try to keep her down? What a sad situation for her.
To make us feel her sadness more, Mr. Naouri, as her father, reflected her pain very sincerely; anything he lacked as a singer, he made up for in the richness of his portrayal of a man who is basically a wimp, sympathetic but impotent.
Ms. Coote, who plays Prince Charming, was surprisingly good at conveying masculinity in her stance, her walk, and her attitudes. Where Cinderella feels helpless loneliness, Prince Charming conveys petulant ennui.
Ms. Blythe, the step-mother, is alternately comical and impressive, and you really believe her when she recites her family's long and glorious heritage.
Ms. Kim seems to have invented her own version of the Fairy Godmother with a personality that is both feisty and fairy-like, magical. While there is nothing in the lyrics that calls for this, you can hear it in the flighty melodies she sings.
Opera is the most comprehensive art form, with music and drama and dance. When all of it is of the very highest quality, you feel fully entertained. Who could ask for more?
A note on the photos: Usually I crib a photo from the New York Times for my reviews, but this time I managed to whip out my iPhone when I saw the Fairy Godmother sitting on a pile of books, so these shots are my own.
