The LSU Opera program is taking the classic tale of Cinderella from the storybook to the stage with its rendition of Gioacchino Rossini’s “La Cenerentola.”
The opera, which runs from today to Saturday at the 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Shaver Theatre, tells the classic story of Cinderella with a twist. The story unfolds in a city known for its mystique and party atmosphere – New Orleans.
“We decided since 2012 is the bicentennial of Louisiana’s statehood, we should have some fun with it,” said Director of LSU Opera Dugg McDonough. “We not only set it in and around New Orleans, we set it around Mardi Gras.”
McDonough’s Cinderella attends a Mardi Gras ball where she loses a bracelet rather than a glass slipper. Cinderella’s pining lover matches the misplaced bracelet with its twin, which wraps her wrist.
Many roles, such as Cinderella, are played by multiple performers because of intensive vocal demands, McDonough said. One cast will take the stage Thursday and Saturday while another performs Friday and Sunday.
Other changes include a benevolent godfather named Alidora in place of the godmother, McDonough said.
Cinderella’s cruel stepmother is replaced by a father who has fallen on hard times, but the two teasing sisters remain as spiteful as ever, he said.
According to McDonough, Alidora is the creator of the spectacle. He’s the overseer of the production and introduces the story to the audience.
Most tellings of the Cinderella story tend to be a fairy tale or fantasy, McDonough said. But not this Italian romantic comedy.
“It’s a little bit funnier and zanier than the average Cinderella story,” McDonough said.
He said the audience will enjoy the abundance of local flavor incorporated in the opera and the style of the performance, which resembles an old-fashioned pop-up book.
The idea spawned from McDonough, whose job as stage director is to brainstorm a concept, setting and appearance for the performance. McDonough said he worked with the set, costume and lighting designers to create a fresh approach to Rossini’s classic.
 
The undergraduate and graduate students in the opera program have spent two months preparing for the show, McDonough said. Music rehearsals began with the spring semester’s arrival and spanned two weeks before staging the opera.
 
Music conductor Michael Borowitz said he individually rehearsed with singers for six to eight hours before they took to the stage.
Borowitz conducts an orchestra of 30 student musicians and plays the harpsichord during recitatives, which are dialogue parts of the opera. He also organizes the orchestral scores for each player, all of whom have separate parts.
Borowitz facilitates coordination between 40 singers on stage and 30 musicians in the pit, which he said can be tricky at times.
“It’s difficult when you’re a pit musician because you don’t have what everyone is playing,” he said. “You have to not only play what’s on the page but listen to everyone around you.”
Since the opera is sung in Italian, with English translations projected over stage, student performers are required to be well-versed in the language, McDonough said. Other performances call for students to speak French, German, Italian and Russian, he said.
Borowitz said he’s proud of the singers and orchestral students because it’s hard to find singers in the professional world who can perform as well as some University students.
“These are going to be the next group of famous, high-profile singers out there,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to have them here.”
 
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Contact Ferris McDaniel at [email protected]