Royal Opera House, London
It's Christmas in July at Covent Garden, and not only for diehard Massenet fans, who are hearing the Royal Opera perform his 1899 fairytale opera for the first time. There's a festive feel to Laurent Pelly's staging, with its rich red-and-gold palette and its lavish, witty charm.
This is not quite the Cinderella story we all know. There are no mice, no pumpkins; instead, Massenet and his librettist Henri Cain seek to magnify the human drama in between the lines of Perrault's fairytale. Sometimes literally in this staging: Barbara de Limburg's sets are covered in the story's text. And yet it is in the more intimate moments that the pace sometimes slackens. Instead, Pelly's production is at its effervescent best in busy scenes such as the ball, where a seemingly neverending line of hopeful princesses, costumed as if by Galliano reimagining Tenniel in topiary, hope to outcharm Prince Charming ? or to scare him into submission.
None is as terrifying as Ewa Podles's Countess, the wicked stepmother. With her fruity contralto and magnificently upholstered derriere, Podles threatens to steal the show; her comic acting, deadly serious, is spot on. But the evening still belongs to the two lovers, who are memorably well cast. Joyce DiDonato sings Cinderella, a high role for her, with a winning combination of resolve and vulnerability, and Alice Coote's Prince Charming is a class act from start to finish.
Not everything is quite so consistent. Bertrand de Billy conducts a mostly zippy orchestral performance, but occasionally the stage gets out of synch with the pit, especially when Jean-Philippe Lafont's Pandolfe is involved. Eglise Guti�rrez has all the diamond high notes for the Fairy Godmother, but at such delicate volume that one sometimes doubts her magical powers. Still, as a whole the performance weaves quite some spell.
In rep until 16 July. Broadcast on Radio 3 on 9 July.
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