Cinderella (La Cenerentola): Opera Kitchener Bringing their Craft to their Audience
by Brian Hay
Opera alongside a main street; who’d of thought?
But thanks to an accident of fate (or a miscue somewhere), it happened. Opera Kitchener's performance of Gioachino Rossini’s opera Cinderella (which had been intended for staging at the Waterloo Public Square) ended up being performed in front of a Shopping Mall located on King Street. Harley-Davidson Bikes made for weird audience noises and some of the City Buses didn’t help but it worked out to be a happy accident. A lot of passers-by stopped. Many stayed a while. Some ended up tapping their feet in time with the music. The company couldn't have asked for better exposure.
That many people stayed unexpectedly was no accident. This group has an excellent crew of singers. Jennifer Elisabetta Fina has a fabulous mezzo-soprano voice that's voluptuously sexy and incredibly powerful. She fills the air with tones that literally, are ravishing. Anna Bateman is an excellent actress and her singing voice is deceptively powerful. It starts small but reaches the heavens when she uses her full range. Her physical gestures helped make her rendition of the "Dejection" aria from the second act one of the high points of the show. Louisa Cowie's strength as a vocalist is apparent each time she sings. Of all the singers her voice was the one that was strongest whenever the amplification system faltered for a moment or two. She's also a very expressive actress.
The men in the cast were just as impressive. Gerrit Thule had the lightest voice of the three bass/ baritone singers. Douglas Tranquada had a smoothly textured tone as well. He was also capable of generating huge amounts of volume without sounding strained. Both were also strong comic actors who brought warmth to their respective roles. They also shared a hilarious miscue that they handled with the ease and grace of true professionals. Matthew Morrison had a beautiful silken bass voice. His rich and warm tones added grace to the music each time he sang. Emilio Fina's tenor vocal was strong and expressive. He struggled intermittently in the highest areas of his range but that was understandable as he'd spent the two weeks prior to the performance sick.
Director Penelope Cookson's staging relied on characterization rather than props. She used a minimum of those while giving the performers plenty of movement to insure the Production never became static. At one point she had several of the performers out among the audience while a set was being changed. That was a nice touch. The reading that the Orchestra gave was a spirited one. The tempos set by Conductor William Shookhoff were brisk and suited the jovial nature of Rossini's score well. They also helped keep the action on stage flowing smoothly.
The event wasn't without problems. Presenting the show in English rather than the original Italian was necessary but it created a hurdle. The sounds inherent in the English language don't fit the score with the ease that the original Italian lyrics do. It caused some awkward moments in the musical phrasing. The amplification wasn't perfect. There were points where the vocals dropped off. It was especially noticeable whenever a character entered a scene that was already in progress. It also affected the choir or the singers when they were near the back of the stage. And of course, those noises coming from King Street were distracting.
But the members of the Company transcended the hurdles well. The words of the songs, even those sung during the extended coloratura passages, became easier to understand as the show progressed. The sound man made any needed adjustments quickly and fairly smoothly. He brought "new" singers to their right level in a way that flowed rather than sounding as he just jacked the volume up. And he did it without submerging the voices of the other singers on the stage. The members of the Canadian Male Orpheus Choir sang beautifully and with great restraint. Whenever they began singing he brought their contribution to the fore quickly. And he balanced the sound nicely for the ensemble numbers. The external noises (Thrush Muffler bass lines) became less obtrusive as the show progressed. Ultimately, those sounds became part of the ambience.
This was an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Opera Kitchener took a bold step in staging this and they did a good job of it.
Opera Kitchener's Production of 'Cinderella' was performed in Waterloo in front of a shopping mall that I don't know the name of between three and six p.m. on Saturday June 13, 2009. This review pertains to that show.
Gerrit Thule, Louisa Cowie and Anna Bateman
Photo from the Waterloo Performance
Opera Kitchener:
Official Site
Gioachino Rossini:
Wikipedia Information
