CINDERELLA

by Alma Deutscher
Production/Director: Brad Dalton
Set Designer: Steven Kemp
Lighting/Projection Designer: David Cuthbert
Costume Designer: Johann Stegmeir

presented by the Packard Humanities Institute at the California Theatre, San Jose, 2017

***Available on Sony Blu-ray and DVD (click here to view)

 “Somehow Opera San Jose and the Packard Humanities Institute have managed the impossible: a lavish full-scale staging conducted by renowned conductor Jane Glover, dazzling sets and costumes, and a young and talented cast. The music is both funny and well executed. Those who whine that modern operas lack hummable tunes will have nothing to complain about here.” – Hana Walder-Biesanz, San Francisco Classical Voice

 “Although there is real life, art, and love at stake in the opera, Mary Dunleavy and her daughters in the opera romp and sing with convincing envy, selfishness, and desire in contrast to the sincere longing of their step-sister. It makes for more than just a lively and audience-friendly experience; we are actually transported from the conventional tale to the milieu in which we do care how things work out. One of the extraordinary things about the production is that, as staged by director Brad Dalton, it never lagged for all its narrative familiarity. It is a production with music to fill the heart and soul, to embrace the world and look for renewed possibilities of how it might again be.” – Lois Silverstein, Opera Wire

 “This ‘Cinderella’ is given a theatrically riveting production by Opera San Jose; it is tauter and more dramatically compelling than many a Verdian story. The stage director Brad Dalton kept the stage action dynamic without gratuitous fussiness. The entire run was sold out so the company hurriedly added extra performances to accommodate audience demand.” – Heather Mac Donald, The New Criterion

 “The physical production was easily the most lavish I have yet experienced in San Jose. Director Brad Dalton devised effective stage pictures, practiced cleverly varied stage movement, and the characters interact with broad clarity of purpose that carried to the top tier. He managed to not only enliven the proceedings, but also successfully kept the pace going throughout the evening. The buoyant production of such high professional standard made this a once-in-a-lifetime opera-going event that had audiences standing and cheering.” – James Sohre, Opera Today

 “The pacing is purposeful, the sets are beautiful, and the actors hit their marks with lively characterization. A sold-out audience welcomed the musical prodigy Alma Deutscher for the North American premiere of her opera.” – Ted Malone, Metroactive

 “The production is delightful. The overall ambience starts with well-delineated characters, portrayed by excellent singer/actors. In addition to the leads, comic highlights are offered by the frivolous stepsisters, the supercilious king, and the foppish minister, while magic is provided by the mysterious woman in the forest who will appear at the end in a different form. The opera is compelling, with beauty as the defining characteristic.” - Victor Cordell, For All Events