Cendrillon - Winter 2020
Arts
UCSC Opera
Every year, the UCSC Opera program puts on a family opera with full costumes, sets, lights, and accompaniment. The purpose is to give undergraduates a chance to work in a professional opera setting, while learning difficult music and a variety of essential skills. This year we did a condensed english version of Massenet’s Cendrillon, or as we know it, Cinderella. Performing in this production, my cast mates and I were able to gain many skills such as character building, acting, choreography, memorizing, cooperation, and how to follow a conductor, a skill essential for any aspiring opera singer. We also learned how to handle singing in a big hall, a skill quite hard to achieve while you are moving around, acting, and following the conductor. It is an amazing opportunity to play a leading role in an opera as an undergrad. This is an opportunity not found at a lot of universities. We began working in mid November, and performed it in the recital hall on February 15th, 2020. The story is the classic fairy tale: Cinderella is enslaved and in rags because of her evil stepmother and two jealous stepsisters. All she wants to do is go to the royal ball, but she stands no chance because of the devious girls. However, her fairy godmother appears and magically transforms her reality into a dream come true, unrecognizable to anybody who knows her. Cinderella enchants the handsome Prince Charming at the ball, but leaves in a hurry when the spell wears off at midnight, leaving behind a single slipper. The Prince, finding the slipper, then searches the entire kingdom for this mystery girl, his one true love. This project was so special and important to me because we involved students from Radcliff elementary school. These young students played the mice and Cinderella’s friends which encouraged community engagement. We made the production free to encourage people to attend the opera, and to spread the arts. We also were able to take this show to the community, traveling to Radcliff Elementary to perform for their students, as well as performing at the MAH. It was a wonderful opportunity.
