Cinderella—Holiday Presentation

Metropolitan Opera, New York, USA

Scene 1 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 1

Scene 2 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 2

Scene 3 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 3

Scene 4 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 4

Scene 5 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 5

Scene 6 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 6

Scene 7 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 7

Scene 8 from the opera "Cinderella", photo 8

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1 PM

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Important Info

Type: Opera

City: New York, USA

Starts at: 13:00

Acts: 4

Intervals: 1

Duration: 1h 35min

Sung in: French

Titles in: English,German,Spanish

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

Overview

Continuing a treasured holiday tradition, the Met presents a new installment in its series of abridged opera adaptations for family audiences.

Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon, a hit of the 2017–18 season, is presented with an all-new English translation in an abridged 90 minutes, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads a delightful cast, which includes mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and bass-baritone Laurent Naouri as her feuding guardians.

History

Premiere of this production: 24 May 1899, Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris

Cendrillon (Cinderella) is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale.

Synopsis

A storybook kingdom. Pandolfe, a country gentleman, has married Madame de la Haltière, an imperious countess. She and her daughters, Noémie and Dorothée, bully Pandolfe’s daughter from his first marriage, Lucette—known as Cendrillon.

ACT I

The household prepares for a ball to be given at the Court that evening. Pandolfe bemoans his lot: married to a nagging wife who ill-treats his daughter. Madame de la Haltière instructs her daughters on how to behave at the ball. She refuses to let Cendrillon attend the festivities or to let her father say goodbye to her. After her family has left, Cendrillon sits by the fire and dreams of the ball. Cendrillon’s Fairy Godmother appears and conjures her a coach, horses, a beautiful gown, and glass slippers. She tells Cendrillon that she can go to the ball but must leave before midnight, and that the glass slippers will prevent Cendrillon’s family from recognizing her.

ACT II

The royal ballroom is full of guests enjoying themselves, but Prince Charming is in a melancholy mood. The King orders his son to find a wife, and several princesses dance for the Prince. An unknown beauty, Cendrillon in all her finery, enters the room to general surprise. The whole court—except Madame de la Haltière and her daughters—are charmed by the stranger, and the Prince immediately falls in love with her. Left alone with Cendrillon, he tells her of his feelings. Cendrillon is equally taken with the Prince, but at the first stroke of midnight she hurries away, remembering the Fairy Godmother’s words.

ACT III

Cendrillon has returned home, crestfallen at having had to leave the Prince behind. She remembers her frightening journey from the royal palace and how she lost one of her glass slippers as she left the ball. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters enter, abusing Pandolfe. Madame de la Haltière then describes to Cendrillon the “unknown stranger” who appeared at the King’s ball, telling her that the Prince spoke contemptuously of the girl, and that the Court regarded her with disdain. When Pandolfe tells his wife to be quiet, she turns on him again. Pandolfe has finally had enough and sends Madame de la Haltière, Noémie, and Dorothée out of the room. He suggests to Cendrillon that they leave town and return together to his country estate. Cendrillon agrees, and Pandolfe goes to prepare for their journey. Alone, Cendrillon decides that she is too sad to continue living. She bids farewell to her home and leaves, determined to go off and die in the forest. Spirits are dancing in the forest. Prince Charming and Cendrillon enter, looking for each other. They pray to the Fairy Godmother to ease their pain. Hearing each other’s voices, they reaffirm their love, and Cendrillon tells the Prince her true name, Lucette. The Fairy Godmother allows the pair to see each other. They embrace and fall into an enchanted sleep.

ACT IV

Pandolfe has found Cendrillon in the forest and has been caring for her at home. He tells her that she had been talking during her illness of her adventures at the ball and of Prince Charming. Cendrillon begins to believe that the whole episode was a dream. Trying to be brave, she greets the spring with her father. Madame de la Haltière, Noémie, and Dorothée enter excitedly. They tell Cendrillon and Pandolfe that the King has summoned maidens from all over the land in the hope that one of them is the unknown beauty whom the Prince met at the ball. Madame de la Haltière is sure that the Prince must mean one of her daughters and is determined to go to the palace. A herald announces that the Prince is insisting that each woman who appears at court must try on the glass slipper left behind by the unknown beauty, for it will only fit perfectly upon her foot. Cendrillon resolves to go to the palace as well. The Prince is desperately searching for his beloved among the young women summoned to the palace. Having not found her, he despairs, until Cendrillon and the Fairy Godmother arrive. The Prince immediately recognizes Cendrillon, and the pair declare their love to the court. Pandolfe and the rest of Cendrillon’s family enter. Everyone rejoices and hails Cendrillon as their future queen.

A prologue in front of the curtain, suppressed before the premiere, introduced the characters and invited the audience to enjoy the fairy-tale "to escape from dark realities (pour échapper à des réalités sombres)" and to believe in the "fabulous (fabuleux)". The final words of the prologue are repeated at the end of the opera.

Act 1

Chez Madame de la Haltière

A large room in the house of Madame de la Haltière with a chimney grate. Servants are busy preparing for the ball. Pandolfe, the second husband of Madame de la Haltière, wonders why he forsook the calm of his country home to marry a selfish countess with her two daughters, and pities the lot of his own loving daughter Lucette (Cendrillon). Madame de la Haltière and her daughters Noémie and Dorothée dress while the mother tells them how to attract the prince's attention at the ball. Late in leaving, Pandolfe resigns himself to accompanying them. Cendrillon enters, singing of how she wishes she could also have gone to the ball. After completing her chores she falls asleep by the warm chimney hearth. The Fairy Godmother and her attendants come in, transform Cendrillon into magnificent clothes for the ball, but warn the girl that their spell will only last until midnight, and that the glass slippers will protect her from being recognized by her family. Cendrillon promises to return at midnight, and sets off for the ball.

Act 2

The royal palace

At the royal hall, all is excitement, except for the prince who is melancholy. The king reminds him that he must choose a wife. After five ballet entrées where the eligible princesses present themselves to the prince, a heavenly unknown beauty (Cendrillon) enters and enchants everyone—except for Madame de la Haltière and the two step-sisters. The prince and Cendrillon fall in love at first sight but when the clock strikes midnight Cendrillon runs off, as the stunned prince looks on.

Act 3

First tableau: The return from the ball

Cendrillon returns to the house, having lost one of her glass slippers in her flight, and relives the charm of the ball. Her fine gown has changed back into a plain dress. She hears the returning family carriage and hides in her room. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters insist that the prince rejected the unknown beauty. Cendrillon is on the point of fainting, when her father angrily sends the other women from the room. Tenderly he promises Cendrillon that they will return to his country home. When he has left, she recalls her mother's death, and to prevent her father any more pain, Cendrillon flees into the night, to die on her own.

Second Tableau: The Fairies' Oak

Under a magic oak tree in an enchanted forest, the prince and Cendrillon are drawn together by the fairies. An enchanted arbour of flowers blocks their view of each other but they recognize each other's voice and sing of their love. The prince offers his heart to see his beloved. The flowers disappear and the lovers, surrounded by the spirits, fall into a slumber in each other's arms.

Act 4

First Tableau: The terrace chez Cendrillon

Back in Cendrillon's home, Pandolfe watches over his sleeping daughter, who was found months previously by a stream. Cendrillon awakes and her father relates how in her delirium she spoke to him about the prince, the oak and the slipper. Pandolfe convinces her that it was all a dream. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters appear with the news about an assembly of all eligible princesses at the King's palace. As a royal herald summons the princesses to go and try on the glass slipper, Cendrillon realizes that her dream was true. During the march of the princesses, the scene changes.

Second Tableau: A great hall in the palace

Back at the ballroom in the palace the prince recognizes Cendrillon among the princesses. The lovers are reunited and acclaimed by all present, even Madame de la Haltière. All turn to the audience and, out of character, sing that the piece is over and they have done their best to send the audience through "les beaux pays bleus (the beautiful blue countries)".

Venue Info

Metropolitan Opera - New York
30 Lincoln Center

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music theatre in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year from late September through May. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established Academy of Music opera house. The subscribers to the Academy's limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these "old money" families were loath to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Opera's founding subscribers determined to build a new opera house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of 22 men assembled at Delmonico's restaurant on April 28, 1880. They elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The new theater, built at 39th and Broadway, would include three tiers of private boxes in which the scions of New York's powerful new industrial families could display their wealth and establish their social prominence. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, and Vanderbilt families, all of whom had been excluded from the Academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Music's opera season folded just three years after the Met opened.

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