Cendrillon, Royal Opera House, London

By Richard Fairman [Financial Times, 6 July 2011]
One wave of the fairy godmother’s magic wand and Massenet’s delicate opera might disappear. Its music alternates between long scenes of comic business as threadbare in material as Cinderella’s rags and light-as-thistledown love duets as enchanting as any ever written. Long neglected, Cendrillon is getting its first performances at the Royal Opera House.