Cendrillon Music by Jules Massenet Text by Henri Cain (After Perrault) Supertitle Translation by Caren France and Chuck Hudson
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Five Hundred Fifty-Fifth Program of the 2008-09 Season ____________________ Indiana University Opera Theater presents as its 403rd production Cendrillon Music by Jules Massenet Text by Henri Cain (after Perrault) Supertitle translation by Caren France and Chuck Hudson Ronald Zollman, Conductor Chuck Hudson, Stage Director C. David Higgins, Set and Costume Designer Michael Schwandt, Lighting Designer Michael Vernon, Choreographer Brent Gault, Children’s Choir Director Sondra Nottingham, Wig & Make-Up Designer Daniela Candillari, French Diction Coach Flying by Foy Some costume pieces supplied by Malabar Limited, Toronto. Special thanks to Aidas and Marion Gimbutas of Main Light Inc. in Wilmington, Del., for their assistance with fiber optic curtains. Special thanks to Nancy Crome for embroidery work on the stepsisters’ dresses. _______________ Musical Arts Center Friday Evening, February Sixth Saturday Evening, February Seventh Friday Evening, February Thirteenth Saturday Evening, February Fourteenth Eight O’Clock music.indiana.edu Cast Cendrillon (Lucette) Carolina Castells, Amanda Russo Prince Charming Laura Wilde, Heng Xia Madame de la Haltière, Cendrillon’s stepmother Charis Peden Madame de la Haltière cover Eileen Jennings Pandolfe, her husband, Cendrillon’s father Alan Dunbar, Carl DuPont Fairy Godmother Megan Radder, Yungee Rhie Pandolfe’s stepdaughters: Noémie Caryn Kerstetter, Marie Masters Dorothée Laura Boone, Julia Snowden The King Joseph Beutel, Justin Merrick Herald Curtis Crafton, Marcelo Ferreira The Dean of the Faculty Blake Kendall, Asitha Tennekoon Fairies Christine Cornell, Krista Costin, Kimberly Izzo, Shareese Johnson, Emily Stokes, Laura Waters Modiste James Bennett, Nathan Brown, Daniel Mayo Chorus Suna Avci*, Melissa Block (offstage only), Corey Bonar*, Jennifer Brew, Nathan Brown, Ye Chen, Miriam Drumm, Jessica Feigenbaum, Molly Fetherston*, Brandon Gauby, Gracia Gillund, Josiah Gulden*, Olivia Hairston, Morgan Harrington, Jonathan Hilber, Christin Horsley, Kelly Kruse, Daniel Lentz*, Jami Leonard, William Lockhart, Sarah Magun*, Kenneth Marks, Julia Pefanis*, Pierre Perez*, Shelley Ploss*, Katherine Polit, Michael Powell, Lydia Pusateri, Evan Snipes, Emily Smokovich, Sarah Starling, Joe Uthup, Benjamin Werley*, Megan Winsted * denotes Servant Chorus Children’s Chorus Madelyn Allender, Eleanor Baude-Phillips, Lena Cramer, Joanna George, Julia Herrmann, Susanna Herrmann, Morgan Huntington, Ben Johnson, Keziah Lee, Corah Lydy, Zoe McAffee, Arielle Moir, Hannah Roberson, Laura Schneider, Elsa Shelton, Anna Weinberg Dancers: Women Brette Benedict, Annie Duffey Alyssa Lynch, Elizabeth Martin, Jordan Martin, Alex Shipley Men Dylan Giles, Elliot O’Glasser, Max Tortoriello 2008-2009 IU OPERA theater SEASON Caesar and Cleopatra et tu! FEBRUARY by George Frideric Handel 27, 28 CONDUCTOR: MARCH Gary Thor Wedow STAGE DIRECTOR: 6, 7 TomGiulio Diamond Cesare 8 p.m. at the MAC SET DESIGNER: With Opera Insights at 7 p.m. Robert O’Hearn Sung in Italian with One of Handel’s most English supertitles popular operas, Giulio Cesare captures all the intrigue and high-stakes plots and rivalries of the Roman court and, in many ways, of universal politics. A series of assassination plots ensues before Caesar and Cleopatra eventually declare their legendary love for each other. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW MAC Box Office info: (812) 855-7433 Ticketmaster: 1-800-745-3000 music.indiana.edu/opera From the Stage Director Chuck Hudson Our Cendrillon is set in 19th-century France, Napoleon’s First Empire and what is also called the Regency Period in England This time has been defined by its “elegant madness” with its new post-revolution varieties of social classes Fashionable high society and derisive social climbing continued to confront the newly mobilized middle class One’s street address became vital due to the new national postal systems, the gentleman’s club and boxing matches were men’s places of escape from the regimented households of women, yet a man’s home was his castle as he lounged in the newly invented wing-back arm chairs Oddly enough, court behavior remained as high Baroque as the century before Part of my particular direction here at IU was to mine imagery from the Cinderella tale as a vestige of a feminine initiation ritual: drawing on Carl Jung’s work on Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, Marie-Louise von Franz’s application of this work in analyzing fairy tales, and Joseph Campbell’s use of this material in outlining the Heroic Journey, we present a young woman’s coming of age in a world devoid of positive feminine role models—much like Alice in Wonderland is the story of a young girl becoming a woman Like in Alice, we make the most of dreamlike exaggeration—a visually and emotionally intoxicating inner life We specifically explore the manner in which dream reality invades and penetrates actual reality—the gilded and opulent reality of the palace verses a surrealistic and mythical reality for the dark woods We approached the period style behavior for its virtuosity—exaggerated stylistic representations of what is fashionable at the time based on Cruikshank political cartoons printed in the fashionable newspapers Choral movement is a large part of this production, and we mean this in the Greek choral sense and not only in the sense of a singing chorus The chorus of Servants will act as one body, the chorus of Courtiers will act as another, the chorus of Fairies will act as a third, the Children’s chorus as a fourth, and we top this off with a small corps-de-ballet At court we will have royal processionals and presentations of social groups as they mix Madame de la Haltière and her two daughters work as a choral-movement trio, served by three Modistes: high society fops, dandies, or Pinks of the Ton, as they were called Our Fairies will be a highly sexualized group of period pin-up girls (if they ever existed) creating a feminine dream-world in which Cendrillon’s womanhood will awaken Finally, we will have our trio of characters who are alone in the crowd: Pandolfe—like Molière’s George Dandin, Prince Charming, and Lucette—Cinderella herself They are drawn together by La Fée, the Fairy Godmother, a mix of Louis XV high French Baroque and Celtic Tree Goddess, drawing on feminine imagery as far back as 4000 BCE Sumerian Myths She indeed allows our production to “take flight ” Our aim is to make this a visually stunning and dramatically compelling story to accompany the delightful and delicious musical demands of the show The singers were presented with performance challenges one might not expect to have in such a piece, and combining them with the musical and language challenges inherent in the production as it is written and composed has been a delight to explore with them Massenet and Cain’s Variation on Cinderella by Nik Taylor The story of Cinderella has a long history in the oral tradition, having been passed down from generation to generation This dissemination makes it virtually impossible to identify the tale’s author or even place of origin But, in 1697, Charles Perrault committed a version to paper and included it in his famous collection, Tales of Mother Goose Perrault’s text helped launch the overwhelming popularity of this story for both children and adults alike The Brothers Grimm published their slightly altered version in 1812, and, shortly after, Gioacchino Rossini set it to music in his opera La Cenerentola (1817) Indeed, since the publication of Perrault’s Cinderella, the story has inspired countless retellings in plays, films, ballets, and operas Because every version includes similar situations, identical main characters, and a familiar ending, many authors felt a need to make their new renditions interesting and unique Therefore most versions alter or include variations on the fundamental plot In Massenet and Cain’s opera Cendrillon, the composer and librettist chose to amplify the role of a small character in the tale’s written sources: Cinderella’s father Both Perrault’s and the Grimms’ versions begin by introducing a rich gentleman whose wife became ill and died We learn that the couple had a lone daughter, who now lives with her father and his cruel second wife, along with her two daughters After this brief introduction, however, the young girl’s father is never mentioned again; instead, the story focuses on the young girl, who is called “Cinderella” by her wicked stepsisters, and on the Prince But in Massenet and Cain’s opera, Cendrillon’s father (Pandolfe) has a leading role and is present throughout the work In addition, the music composed for Pandolfe distinctively contrasts to Massenet’s writing for another important character in this opera, Cendrillon’s stepmother, Madame de la Haltière Not only do these changes to the original story make this rendition original and unique, but they also allow the composer to increase the dramatic intensity of the story through contrasting musical styles This new emphasis on the father begins early: Pandolfe sings the first aria in Act I, “Du côté de la barbe est la toute-puissance!” (“Power is meant to be on the man’s side!”) Tuesday to Saturday CHOO CHOO at the Station TUE-SAT Our new casual restaurant 11am-11pm All ages welcome Pandolfe explains that he is a widower with a sweet, beautiful daughter from his first marriage and now married to a harsh wife with evil daughters, all common elements in the traditional story But Pandolfe’s aria also includes some unique details: he expresses regret for leaving his country home to marry Madame de la