From 1996, for an audience between the ages of 6 and 14.
For the 2021/22 Season, Opera Education AsLiCo, along with its co-producing partners Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Opéra de Rouen, presents the Rossinian opera La Cenerentola, as XXVI edition of Opera domani.
Daniele Menghini, winner of the competition for the direction project, will bring to Teatro Sociale Como, and to every Italian and European theatre connected to the Opera domani circuit, one of the most famous and beloved fairy tales. In Rossini’s version, surprisingly, we are not dealing with a proper fairy tale, since the composer and his librettist Ferretti purge the story of all magical and fairy-tale elements: there are no mice that turn into coachmen, no pumpkin that turns into a carriage, no fairy godmother and not even the glass slipper. Our story takes place in a Grand Hotel: a melting pot of different cultures and social classes, a dimension that makes exchange and encounter a richness, a special place where an illustrious guest such as a prince can meet and fall in love with a maid, recognising the true beauty hidden behind a dirty apron.
La Cenerentola. Grand Hotel dei sogni
The father and head of the family, Don Magnifico, who is broke after squandering all of Cinderella’s inheritance on his daughters’ whims, turns his palace into a Grand Hotel in the hope of improving the house’s finances. Carving out the role of concierge for himself, he forces Cinderella to wear the clothes of a maid and makes her his servant, allowing his daughters Clorinda and Thisbe to live as eternal vacationers, served and revered by their poor stepsister. One fine day, the unexpected visit of a special guest will change the fate of the mistreated girl: Prince Ramiro himself, accompanied by the waiter Dandini, has chosen the famous Salon of Delights of the Grand Hotel to hold a grand ball and thus marry the girl with the purest heart in the whole kingdom. Cinderella’s goodness will win the prince’s heart, with the help of the good Alidoro, the pony express of dreams, who rides the length and breadth of the kingdom, fulfilling the wishes of kind hearts.
La Cenerentola. Grand Hotel dei sogni
Taken from La Cenerentola
Musics by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Jacopo Ferretti
Musical and dramaturgical adaptation by AsLiCo
Conductor Enrico Lombardi
Director Daniele Menghini
Scenes Davide Signorini
Costumes Nika Campisi
Light design Gianni Bertoli
Orchestra 1813
An AsLiCo Production
In co-production with Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Opéra de Rouen
New staging
EDUCATIONAL THEMES from opera to adaptation
- Children’s rights and right to family affection;
- The condition of women: Cinderella is exploited in the family environment where she should be protected and loved.
- Travel: intended as growth, as an experience of getting to know oneself, the world and others.
- Identity: building one’s own fortune, being the architect of one’s own destiny, finding within oneself the determination to assert one’s identity, despite the difficulties. Building one’s future every day, piece by piece.
The opera adaptation, lasting about 70 minutes, is introduced by teacher training, officially recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education, and, upon request, by an in-classroom meeting.
Students can prepare to the active participation in the play thanks to an interactive opera libretto, which is differenciated for primary and secondary schools.