Rossini's Delightful Cinderella Opera On PBS This Week
This Thursday August 20 , PBS will be broadcasting a Metropolitan Opera performance taped earlier of Rossini's La Cenerentola (Chen-er-EN-tola) from the Metropolitan Opera . This is the great Italian composer's comic take on the Cinderella story, albeit without the fairy godmother and the magic slippers .
The ugly stepsisters are still there, but the father is a lovable doofus , and prince charming has a valet who is in disguise as the prince through much of the opera , plus a wise old advisor who disguises himself as a beggar in the beginning of the opera to test Cinderella's kind heart .
There's plenty of tomfooolery , mistaken identities , confusion , and comic fun throughout this masterpiece of Italian comic opera , and Rossini's bubbly and irresistably melodious music will enchant you . Plus plenty of opportunity for the singers to show off their Bel Canto virtuosity .
In the cast are the rising young Lavian singer Elina Garanca (Ga-ran-cha), and the young American Bel Canto tenor Lawrence Brownlee as prince charming, and Alessandro Corbelli as the bumbling father . Check your local TV station ; this broadcast may not be shown everywhere in the US , but you can probably also see on the internet at Sirius.com .