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and what she stands for,” declares the
mezzo. In this day and age, “she may
come across as weak because of all the
things she puts up with. Today we’d say,
‘How can she let herself be abused this
way?’” In Leonard’s opinion, Cinderella
doesn’t just forgive her father and
stepsisters at the end of the opera, “she
forgives them on a day-to-day basis!
The pain of watching her is that every
day she’s dealing with this very difficult
situation, yet she’s a hopeful person. She
doesn’t allow herself to become entirely
sad and depressed. It’s in her
nature,
I
think, to be hopeful. I think we’re all a
little cynical now when we think about
hope. But there’s something to it when
someone really perseveres through their
hope, and I think that’s a beautiful idea.”
Leonard enraptured Washington
National Opera and Munich’s Bayerische
Staatsoper earlier this year as Cinderella
(“Cenerentola” in Italian—although the
heroine’s real name in Rossini’s opera
is actually Angelina!). One of today’s
foremost lyric mezzos and a star of
the Met and the major houses of San
Francisco, Munich, and Paris, Leonard
sparkled in her Lyric debut last year as
Rosina in
The Barber of Seville
. She actually
prefers Cinderella, “because there’s a lot
more lyrical singing—Rosina doesn’t
really have that.”
Brownlee’s portrayal of Ramiro
marks his long-awaited debut at Lyric,
the eleventh company where he’s sung
the role (among the others have been
11
The captivating
Isabel Leonard and
Lawrence Brownlee
portray Cinderella
and the Prince at Lyric
COUPLE
by
Roger Pines
Any opera company planning a
production of Rossini’s
Cinderella
can’t
succeed without two fabulous performers
as the heroine and Ramiro, her prince.
Lyric has them this season in two
Americans who have risen to world
stature – mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard
and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. They’re
greatly looking forward to performing
together in Chicago in
Cinderella
, onstage
from October 4 through 30.
“Larry’s phenomenal,” says Leonard,
who admires Brownlee’s sense of humor
as much as his artistry. “The great thing
about
Cinderella
is that we have an entire
duet to sing together!” Brownlee clearly
relishes Leonard’s attention to all aspects
of her roles, noting that “you never feel
she’s on autopilot. She’s always searching.”
Lyric is presenting Spanish director
Joan Font’s whimsical and over-
the-top
Cinderella
, a new-to-Chicago
production that triumphed with
Brownlee in Houston and with Leonard
in Washington, D.C. Leonard admires the
way this staging defines the characters so
clearly and specifically: “The sisters and
the father are very big, bright, and a little
edgy. Cinderella and the prince are more
realistically depicted; their movements
are a little more natural, more subdued,
which is what visually ties the two of
them together in terms of their onstage
presence.”
In Font’s production Brownlee gets a
kick out of his wig and his costume (“blue
and white stars and pink stockings”).
He especially enjoys the human-sized rats
who are onstage frequently, functioning
as Cinderella’s helpers and friends.
“I think people fall in love with them
and find them endearing. I enjoy their
physicality, how much they add to the
show, and the fact that Cinderella is so
sweet and loving towards them.”
For Leonard, it’s easy to play
Cinderella because the music clearly
depicts who she is. “I love her character
F
airytale
LAWRENCE
BROWNLEE
ISABEL
LEONARD
DEREKBLANKS
BECCAFAY
SCOTTSUCHMAN
(WASHINGTONNATIONALOPERA)
BRETTCOOMER
(HOUSTONGRANDOPERA)