★★★☆☆
Rossini’s La Cenerentola should be a sparkling gem in Welsh National Opera’s autumn season, a lighthearted foil to Prokofiev’s War and Peace. But this production, resurrected from 2007, needs a fairy godmother’s help before the opera can really work its magic.
In some ways it’s a tricky piece. Rossini’s Cinderella is neither panto fluff nor escapist romance. Glass slippers are replaced by a moral message: the opera’s subtitle is “the triumph of goodness”. It’s entertainment with a side of headteacher ethics, but directors ignore the forgive-all motto at their peril. In Joan Font’s staging, revived by Xevi Dorca, he tries to avoid po-faced pitfalls by turning La Cenerentola into a comic caper. Instead he sucks out its life and charm.
The look doesn’t