Massenet Cendrillon opera (Cinderalla) to a libretto by Henri Caïn . Directed 2017 by Barbara Mundel and Olga Motta at the Theater Freiburg. Stars Kim-Lillian Strebel (Cendrillon), Anja Jung (Madame de la Haltière), Anat Czarny (Le Prince Charmant), Katharina Melnikova (La Fée), Irina Jae Eun Park (Noémie), Silvia Regazzo (Dorothée), Juan Orozco (Pandolfe), Jongsoo Yang (Le Roi), Naoishi Sekiguchi (Le Surintendant des Plaisirs), Roberto Gionfriddo (La Doyen de la Faculté), and Pascal Hufschmid (Le Premier Ministre / La Voix du Hérault). Fabrice Bollon conducts the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg as well as the Opern und Extrachor des Theater Freiburg (Chorus Master Bernhard Moncado). Choreography by Graham Smith; set design and costumes by Olga Motta; lighting by Dorothee Hoff; dramaturgy by Heiko Voss. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in French. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Roger Pines, writing in the April 2019 Opera News (pages 58-59) approves of Bollon and the Freiburg orchestra, but condemns almost every other aspect of this production especially the “misconceived stage direction” in which co-directors “seem to have something against Cendrillon” and the choreography, which he calls “downright embarrassing.” He says the only successful singer in the production is Katharina Melnikova as La Fée. Mike Ashman was less critical in the November 2018 Gramophone (pages 96-97) but he does complain of overuse of the stage revolve and concludes that production needed more rehearsal.
The official clip below is not particularly encouraging:
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