Fort Worth Opera’s ‘La Cenerentola’ shines with Doche’s dazzling debut

PERFORMANCE REVIEW:

Fort Worth Opera
April 25 & 27(m), 2025
Bass Hall
Fort Worth, Texas – USA
Gioachino ROSSINI: La Cenerentola
Christian Capocaccia, conductor; Candace Evans, stage director & choreographer; Gioachino Rossini, composer; Jacopo Ferretti, librettist. Cast: Victor Ryan Robertson (Prince Ramiro), Stephanie Doche (Angelina), Adelmo Guidarelli (Don Magnifico), Efraín Solís (Dandini), Eric McKeever (Alidoro), Hannah Madeleine Goodman (Clorinda), Mariam Mouawad (Tisbe), Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs | 28 APR 2025

The Fort Worth Opera presented a stellar production of Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, an operatic version of Cinderella, the much-loved and oft-told fairy tale. Modern audiences know the 1950 Disney version–replete with ugly stepsisters, funny fairies, glass slippers, pumpkin chariots, and a handsome (unmarried) prince.

Rossini’s opera jettisons most of the plot’s details, keeping only the three absolutely required elements unchanged. Cinderella remains, as does the cruel treatment delivered by her adopted family. Of course, they had to keep the handsome–and available–Prince. Finally, the two existing sisters remain as the flowers of foolishness.

The buffoonish stepfather, Don Magnifico, is fatuously sung with ridiculous pomposity by baritone Adelmo Guidarelli. The two silly sisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, were broadly portrayed with vaudevillian furor by Hannah Madeleine Goodman and Mariam Mouawad.

The requisite Prince Ramiro was sung with a touch of blandness by the bright-voiced tenor, Victor Ryan Robertson. To keep his identity secret when in public during the wooing season, he changed identities with his rascally valet, Dandini, sung with perpetual personality by baritone Efraín Solís. The contrast was excellent.

Early in the opera, in an effort to research the available crop of possible princesses, the Prince sent out his former tutor, Alidoro (played by Eric McKeever), disguised as a poor beggar. His job was to surreptitiously assess the available candidates for their manners and kindness quotient. The two haughty and rude stepsisters flunk the test with flying colors. But Cenerentola, played by the glorious mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche, who he perceives as the home’s servant girl, treats him with grace and generosity.

Further machinations ensue. Later, at the Prince’s ball, a radiant but unrecognized Cenerentola appears, wowing everyone at the ball. Later, the Prince tracks her down by recognizing a bracelet she wore, and nuptials ensue.

The rejected stepsisters are totally distraught by their misfortune, and worse, it is at the hand of their upstart stepsister no less. However, the always kindly Cenerentola forgives them. After which, she proceeds to deliver a blazingly virtuosic performance of a famous showpiece of an aria–“Non piu mesta.” Much applause.

The opera was busily and brilliantly staged by Candace Evans. The stage’s energy level was mainly on the high setting, with elements ranging from vaudevillian comedy to a men’s chorus of the Prince’s servants, whose staging was reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan societies. The pace was always fast and patterish. But there is a reason for this. In a brilliant touch and a true coup de théâtre, Evans subtly surrounds the saintly Cenerentola in a sea of calm.

Conductor Christian Capocaccia, not in a sea of calm, was a whirling dervish in the pit, even outpacing the singers from time to time. The Fort Worth Symphony was terrific. Erhard Rom’s painted set, rented from the Virginia Opera, was reminiscent of bygone productions. The 19th centuryish costumes, by Ed Kotanen, came from the Sarasota Opera.

However, the glory of this production was the astonishing performance turned in by a relative newcomer, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche, as Cenerentola. She was simply magnificent throughout. Her voice has the burnished mellowness expected of a real mezzo-soprano but still retains a bright finish that gives it a gleam. Her coloratura work, with which this score is laden, was effortlessly tossed off with an accuracy rarely heard these days, belaying its difficulty.

Her rise to the absolute top level of singers is assured, and we were fortunate to hear her at the start of a glorious career.

One last thought. With this production, the Fort Worth Opera appears to be emerging from some troubled years of management changes to retake its rightful place as a respected regional opera company. Bravo. ■

About the author:

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs is a Dallas-based composer, conductor, and journalist. He is also a coach and teacher with a private studio.

Read more by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs.