MLA Sultan at Cinderella

The students of Ridgeview Elementary had a double treat last week. Not only did they get to see our VOIS production of Cinderella, but they also shared the show with a special guest: MLA Ralph Sultan!

Here's a photo of MLA Sultan with the cast.

MLA Sultan is a great supporter of VO's mainstage and education programs. Did you see this video where he encourages everyone to "skip Question Period; go to the opera!"?

Road Food

Vancouver Opera In Schools' Joshua McFaul dishes on dinners with the Cinderella crew...

I really enjoy food. My tastes may be simple and my palate undiscerning - my wife will lamentably attest to this - but neither of those things detract from the satisfaction I take from a good meal.

Such reflection was certainly abundant during this season's VOIS tour, not only due to the culinary sensibilities of my colleagues, but also due to their meal making expertise. From the start, we agreed that each of us individually would take an evening as part of a weekly rotation to prepare dinner for the others while we were on the road.

This path, while excellent in theory, was not easily traveled; for various reasons, meals were required to be entirely void of eggs, dairy, and gluten. Those who know me will find some humour in this because those three things occupy a special place in my heart and heritage, and as such, compose the bulk of my diet (can anyone say 'pancakes'?). Heedless of this fact, I accepted the challenge and strove blindly into unknown territory.

What came next was a string of delicious and satisfying meals, the likes of which I have not experienced in some time. Menus were guarded, ingredients were bought, borrowed, and scrounged, and humble hotel kitchens came to life. In the evenings, we converged at the table to enjoy exciting new dishes prepared with skill and care, which exhibited the personal touch of that night's chef. Rice, chicken, squash, carrots, corn, beans, tomatoes, kale, and other foods were woven into impressive fare that recalled fond memories of family suppers at home.

After witnessing the wide array of recipes offered, I realized that cooking for 6 under such conditions was an easier task than I first thought, and a tasty one, to boot. Also came the added benefit of a solid night's work followed by a break while someone else worked their feast-making maneuvers.

Over our time together, I have observed that we function not entirely unlike a family, working together each day and sharing our ups and downs through 107 shows and counting. So, too, have we sat and shared food and drink on many occasions. We have reached a remarkable rapport, and this is, I believe, why I have enjoyed our meals together so much. I've heard it said that it's the company, not the cooking, that makes the meal.

Food is good by its own right, but I can only hope to always have the opportunity to partake in it with friends. Cheers!

Cinderella and International Women's Day

It's International Women's Day!

There are many powerful, smart women in opera (characters, yes, and also those of us who work in the industry! Ha!)

One such strong woman is Cinderella - especially the Cinderella in our Vancouver Opera In Schools touring production. Melissa, our VOIS Manager, has passed along these notes from stage director Rachel Peake:

Rather than accidentally dropping a shoe as she runs away, our Cinderella chooses to leave a bracelet behind as a way of making sure this man loves the real her. He can't be in love with the fairy tale - she wants him to see the truth before he decides who to choose. She knows happiness lies in being honest BOTH: with you and with others.

This powerful, smart Cinderella was a very exciting starting point for the designer, Drew Facey, and me. We BOTH love fairy tales and the romance of times past, but we wanted to bring in this modern sense of being proud of who you are. So we decided to add a little punk to this fairy tale!

“But she's really one smart cookie
And won't accept him
Until he proves that he will value
What he discovers when we strip away the fortunes”
– from Cinderella

A Cinderella Moment

Vancouver Opera In Schools is again on the road, this time touring our production of Cinderella. Our Cinderella, Erin Lawson, shares this moment from Uclulet.

Here's one show moment that sticks in my head, not the least because it reminded me of what I expect I would have done as a little girl at a show of Cinderella, overcome by excitement.

This young lady, probably in kindergarten or grade one, was sitting right up by the stage. There was one moment that was so exciting for her she just *could not* keep her thoughts inside her head. I loved her all the more for it!

It was the moment when Alidoro presents me with the big white and golden present. Even before I had the chance to open the lid I heard this intake of breath and a little voice in the front row say, quite quietly, “it’s the dress.”

Now, this in itself was just charming, and I found I had more joy opening the present that day, just knowing that one little girl was right there with me! But, for this little girl, that was only the start.

With each subsequent item removed from the present, the volume and excitement level of her voice grew. Out comes the headpiece, “...it’s the dress.” Out come the gloves “...It’s THE Dress!” Out come the bracelets, “IT’S THE DRESS!!!”

Well, by this point I was grinning from ear to ear!!!

Now, I don’t actually pull the dress out of the box at this point. The dress reveal has to wait until the ball scene. So, off I went from the stage for my quick change, and when the curtain went up for the ball scene, I heard the crowning moment: a huge sigh of relief and our little friend exclaiming “I KNEW there’d be a dress!”

And she sat there quietly for the rest of the show, with a big smile on her fairytale loving face.

And here's a photo from the road: Erin at Long Beach.

I think this photo best captures the essence of the beauty that this amazing province has to shown me.

Being from Ontario, I have NEVER had the opportunity to travel through a place that goes from mountains, that make me feel dwarfed by their magnitude, to rain forest so dense you feel like you're breathing in a history of moss of a million years, to this amazing vista at Long Beach where I could, and did, just sit and stare forever!

photo courtesy of Brian Lee

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