CWU Opera Ensemble presents Cinderella by Jules Massenet

The CWU Opera Ensemble’s fully staged production of Cinderella by Massenet opens on April 9th in the Hertz Concert Hall in the McIntyre Music Building. Cinderella, directed by Gayla Blaisdell, will be performed in collaboration with the CWU Chamber Orchestra and feature dancers from the CWU Dance Program. Cinderella (Cendrillon) was written in 1899 by Jules Massenet to a libretto by Henri Cain that is based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault from 1697. The opera tells the familiar love story of Cinderella and Prince Charming through the beautiful lyrical melodies of the late Romantic period and Massenet’s lush orchestration. Their highly romanticized love story is interspersed with the antics of the stepmother, Madame de la Haltière, and her two daughters adding lightness and comedy to the performance. Pandolfe, Cinderella’s father and the family’s servants add another dimension to the plot, along with a playful group of spirits that help the Fairy Godmother transform Cinderella for the ball and arrange for a secret tryst between the lovers. The opera spotlights spectacular Central vocalists in the leading and supporting roles as well as a stellar chorus, dancers from the CWU Dance Program with choreography by Gabby McNeillie and the CWU Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Nikolas Caoile. This production is appropriate for younger audiences and will be performed in English, however, Massenet’s music will be appropriately operatic featuring virtuosic vocalism and dense musical textures: not what you would hear in the Disney or Rodgers and Hammerstein versions! The running time of the show will be approximately two hours and thirty minutes.