GTMF weaves magic with Met Opera’s ‘Cinderella’ – JH News&Guide

Where do the opera lovers of tomorrow come from?

You might look for them in the Center for the Arts theater this weekend, where the Grand Teton Music Festival will show “Cendrillion,” French composer Jules Massenet’s 1899 telling of the age-old Cinderella story, an encore “Live in HD” production from New York City’s Metropolitan Opera.

Sung in English, boiled down to about 90 minutes, and brimming with magic and joy, this 2021 New Year’s Eve performance is fleet and fantastical enough to get even the antsiest kid (or adult) enraptured.

In the Met’s staging, the actual words of the story, as written by Charles Perrault in 1698, come to life, incorporated into the very sets themselves. Cinderella (or Lucette in this version) rides a stagecoach conjured up from letters of the alphabet, and the Fairy Godmother presides from a throne built of sturdy old leather-bound books containing who-knows-what other stories and secrets.

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the title role, with mezzo Emily D’Angelo taking the “trouser role” as Prince Charming, and soprano Jessica Pratt as the Fairy Godmother. Mezzo Stephanie Blythe demands attention each time she takes the stage as Madame de la Haltière, aka the Evil Stepmother.

Watch Massenet’s Cinderella at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 15 at the Center for the Arts. Buy tickets here.