Opera: Cenerentola

I don't suspect many people would count Cenerentola as their favorite Rossini opera, but after repeated viewings of Il barbiere di Siviglia , what's a poor Rossini fan to do? Not that there is anything at all wrong with Cenerentola: it has some lovely music and an abundance of that comic ensemble-patter that Rossini does so well. But you don't exactly remember a lot of it--except perhaps for the item recycled from Siviglia itself. You just back and enjoy it while you've got it.

They say that comedy is hard, and farce is harder. I suspect the patter-songs fall in a class with farce in that you've got to achieve the most delicate collaboration between the entire team, and you've got to make the audience believe that you are just making it up as you go along. The Met's current HD version, which we caught on the big screen here in Palookaville Saturday morning, makes that point. They've got Alessandro Corbelli as the wicked stepfather and Simone Alberghini as the crafty servant, and they're both delighted to demonstrate that they've got it nailed (apparently Corbelli did the servant in his youth, so he can play it in three dimensions). John Relyea, who cut his teeth out here in the "young opera star" programs at San Francisco, has a small but decisive role as the fairy godfather (sic?) and gets to play with a sit of silly wings (tech note: this is the second set of silly wings in the just-completed Met season, not so?--they used them for Cupid in Orfeo also--?).

As the handsome prince, Lawrence Brownlee displays an impressive array of technical skills. He seems to have only one facial expression., but romantic tenors aren't supposed to have any more personality than a Labrador Retriever anyway. There is a cute bit of intertextuality at the end when they pose Brownlee on the wedding cake looking for all the world like The Man on the Wedding Cake.

In the title role. Elīna Garanča is lovely to listen to and gorgeous to admire, but as she herself seems to say, Rossini is not quite her dish--she's too relaxed and smooth and never quite gets her heart into the nervous chatter. She said in an intermission interview that she figures she'll be moving on, but if she doesn't do Rossini, how much is there for a mezzo to do?

Bonus Extra: as filler, the Met gave the audience an instant replay of the past season. Mrs.B and I each took the occasion to select out own favorite performance for the year and independently, we reached the same conclusion: Stephanie Blythe in Gluck's Orfeo.