A Cinderella Twist

Illustration by Edel Rodriguez

For the 2010-2011season, VOIS will tour Cinderella, based on Gioachino Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola. Our Stage Director is the new-to-VO Rachel Peake, and our Set and Costume Designer is Drew Facey. Many of you may recognize Drew's work: he was our set designer for Jack Pine.

What people don’t often realize is that there are many different Cinderella stories from ancient Greece, early China, Europe and the Far East. Here are some examples from ever-reliable Wikipedia.

A classical Greek Cinderella story was recorded in the 1st century B.C. While Cinderella was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis. While the King was administering justice in the open air, the eagle flung the sandal into his lap. The King, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in search of the woman who wore the sandal. Cinderella was found in the city of Naucratis and brought to Memphis, where she became the wife of the king.

In China, there is another version of the story, Ye Xian, recorded around 860 AD. Here the hardworking and lovely girl befriends a fish - actually the reincarnation of her mother, who was killed by her stepmother. Alas, the stepmother returns and kills Ye Xian's mother a second time. Ye Xian saves the fish-mother's bones, which are magic, and they help her dress appropriately for a festival. When she loses her slipper after a fast exit, the King finds her and falls in love with her.

Several different variations of the story appear in the medieval One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others they are male.

The earliest European tale is La Gatta Cenerentola or The Hearth Cat which appears in 1635. This version formed the basis of later versions published by the French author Charles Perrault and the German Brothers Grimm.

Charles Perrault's 1697 version is one of the most popular versions. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the glass slippers. Although, it was widely believed that in Perrault's version, Cinderella wore fur boots ("pantoufle en vair"), and that when the story was translated into English, vair was mistaken for verre (glass), resulting in glass slippers and that the story has remained this way ever since.

Our Cinderella story is an adaptation of Rossini’s La Cenerentola by Ann Hodges and Les Dala. In short: 5 characters, 4 singers, 1 pianist, and 1 stage manager. No fairy godmother and no pumpkin coach. And replacing the popular glass slipper is a bracelet. Yes, we will have a bit of twist and those school children will enjoy the story under an “old-is-new” light. I would also say it is more romantic than a fur boot, don’t you think?

~ Melissa Tsang, VOIS Manager