My first choice is the Ponnelle film with Federica Von Stade, and my second the Cecilia Bartoli and Alessandro Corbelli. The Ann Murray performance is also splendid. For me though the Elina Garanca Met and Juan Diego Florez/Joyce DiDonato productions are just a little above serviceable with great singing but questionable staging. This Cenerentola is wonderful, and my third favourite after Ponnelle's Bartoli's. The opera I love, when I first saw it I did find the story hard to follow but after many more times of watching I see it for the charming fun and musically delightful opera it essentially is. Back to this production, it is traditional and very sumptuous. Musically, it is energetic and sparkling , certainly having a Rossinian feel, the orchestral playing is delicate and buoyant and I loved the brisk tempos and elegant phrasing the conducting showed. The comic business is a treat, the bright spots being when Dandini prances into the castle with horse, hounds and even courtiers and sings of the bee among the flowers and when Dandini reveals his true identity to Magnifico. Both those scenes are comic masterpieces. I also loved how the step-sisters were not over-played, a tendency with productions of La Cenerentola. The performances are great. Kathleen Kuhlmann is suitably melancholic in her first scene and is charming and spirited later on. She has a lovely voice and handles the colouratura fireworks at the end brilliantly. Laurence Dale is a dashing Prince Ramiro, and Roderick Kennedy's Alidoro is both imposing and noble. Claudio Desderi has a tendency to bark at times, but otherwise sings with firmness and agility and his comic timing as always is superb, making Don Magnifico menacing and hilarious in equal measure. The shining jewel of the production for me was Alberto Rinaldi's brilliant Dandini, hysterically funny- which was mainly why the two aforementioned scenes were as good as they were- and beautifully sung. In conclusion, a funny and magical production. 10/10 Bethany Cox
