A Fitting Cinderella

Opera San Jose

Alma Deutscher's Cinderella

November 12, 2022

“Act your age, not your shoe size.” – Prince

It could be that the distinct advantage of being a prodigy lies in having developed the skills to create works of art without the usual baggage of dogmas, nay-sayers and cultural strictures. Which is one reason Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella is such a breath of fresh air. Deutscher simply looks at the musical options available to her - be they classical, romantic or bel canto - revs up that awesome musical brain and applies them to her story. The resultant opera is unapologetically beautiful and vastly entertaining.

The only stumbling block going in may be the fairy tale itself, which has been done to death and, in this age of female empowerment, is not aging well (even Disney is ditching princesses). Fortunately, Deutscher seems aware of these issues and has responded with some intriguing innovations. The primary shift is taking the glass slipper that leads the prince to his quarry and changing it to the second half of an odd melody that Cinderella sings as she flees the ball.

This is nicely set up by the family situation. The nasty stepmother is a retired prima donna (talk about typecasting!), her daughters two budding divas, and they live in the opera house owned by her late husband. The lowly stepdaughter Cinderella handles the score reproductions and has shown some ability as a composer. Once Deutscher establishes the prince as a budding poet, we have the possibility of the two lovers being drawn to each other not through physical attributes but because of their talents and passions.

Another crucial key to the opera’s success is the composer/librettist’s sense of humor. She acknowledges that she’s toying with the classics in a Shrek-ian sort of way with anachronisms (“Triglycerides?” reads the minister from the king’s health report) and regular removals of the fourth wall. “Life is not an opera!” shouts the king, whereupon the orchestra fires up the love theme from Traviata, until the king commands the conductor to cut it out.

With help from the mighty Packard Humanities Institute, the production is tres lavish, beginning with the singers. The stepdaughters, Griselda (soprano Stacey Tappan) and Zibaldona (soprano Julia Dawson) are accomplished bel canto coloraturists, eliciting much laughter with their constant showing off (they’re comically bad because they’re actually really, really good). They both display great comic skills as well, Zibaldona as a constantly melting snowflake and Griselda as a bull in a china shop. As the stepmother, Rena Harms offers a soprano so cutting and powerful that it’s kinda scary. She seems to possess that Cruela de Vil combination of hot and evil, and you can see why she scares the bejeebers out of poor Cinderella.

Another fun ensemble is the king, bass-baritone Ben Brady, and his wildly nervous minister, Joshua Hughes. In view of the king’s failing health, the two are working hard to hook up the brooding poet prince, tenor Joey Hammond-Leppek, with an appropriate bride. Hammond-Leppek possesses a warm, strong tone, but also shows the ability to bring it back to touching pianissimos.

Soprano Natalia Santaliz covered Maria in OSJ’s recent West Side Story, which is a funny coincidence, because the meeting between Cinderella and the prince is quite similar to that of Tony and Maria. Santaliz gives the title character a hugely sympathetic presence, with a light but silvery lyric soprano. Her status as the only singer of color evokes both Cinderella’s lonely state and the recent travails of Meghan Markle. She’s also very good at conveying the darker side of Cinderella’s childhood, notably in the song “Beggar Girl.” The loveliest piece of music in the score is her duet with the prince while they’re dancing. Hammond-Leppek showed great care in bringing down his volume to match hers. Although her voice suited the character, it was a little bit lost in the larger production numbers.

The ensemble’s comic energy and esprit de corps was largely the work of stage director Brad Dalton. Steven C. Kemp’s sets were ravishing, with lovely touches like the carved doors of the king’s chambers and the stained glass windows of the wedding scene. The ballroom was stupendous, with a balcony that circles around like the prow of a ship. Johann A. Stegmeir’s costumes were impressive, notably Cinderella’s ball gown, which had its own entrance. I also enjoyed how the evil daughter’s yacht-wide gowns were played for laughs (and the stepmother’s red gown, let’s just say Rrowr!). Playing the fairy (godmother or not, we don’t know), contralto Megan Esther Grey received quite an upgrade from literal widow’s weeds to a sparkling wedding-day gown. Along with singers from the always-dependable Ragazzi children’s chorus, she provided a calming, hopeful presence.

The orchestra seemed extra comfy with the retro score, delivering a lush performance, and it was a pleasure watching Deutscher’s delicate conducting. It was the first time, in fact, that I had ever watched a composer conduct her own work.

It will be fascinating to watch where Deutscher aims her talents next. As much as I enjoyed her gentle twisting of a classic story, I yearned for more. I even envisioned one of the too-cartoonish evil characters, say Griselda, having a sudden attack of self-awareness: “Why the hell do I spend so much time and energy trying to impress these people?” (See Sondheim, Into the Woods.) In any case, I hope San Jose remains one of her regular stops.

The final act brought one of those nerve-wracking stage crises. A screen had latched onto one of its neighbors and could not be lifted to reveal the interior of the opera house (artfully painted to look like the California Theatre). Had Santaliz thought about it, she might have realized that Cinderella was, in fact, the housekeeper of said opera house, and walked over to shake it loose. It might have been hilarious. After a torturous sixty seconds, some brave stagehand finally snuck over and nudged it free.

Through Nov. 27, California Theatre, 345 S. First Street, San Jose. $55-$195, with special “pay-their-age” children’s rates, operasj.org, 408/437-4450.

Michael J. Vaughn is a 35-year opera critic and author of the novels Gabriella’s Voice and Operaville, both available at amazon.com.

Photo: Natalia Santaliz as Cinderella, Rena Harms as the stepmother. Photo by David Allen.