Rags to Riches Rossini's 'La Cenerentola' - reviewed by ROBERT ANDERSON '... irresistible throughout ...'

It took this opera less than ten years to tour Europe, America and reach Moscow. It swept on to become the first opera heard in Australia, and has now burst into my computer with all the verve it launched into the musical world almost two centuries ago. This Cinderella prefers bracelets to slippers, but long experience amid the ashes and the taunts of her step-sisters have given her an unerring instinct about princes charming, however they may seek to disguise themselves. The ugly sisters of Carla Di Censo and Paola Gardina are irresistible throughout this effervescent Genoese production by Paul Curran, never more so than when prinking themselves at the outset while bickering like a pair of malignant wasplets [watch and listen -- DVD1 chapter 3, 8:46-9:44].

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