Vocal Acrobatics

New York's City Opera Company, which has made itself a fine reputation mounting such neglected modern masterpieces as Berg's Wozzeck and Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges, last week did a turnabout. It wet its thumb, leafed back through the decades, and uncovered a neglected oldtimer that had not been heard in Manhattan since the days of Andrew Jackson: Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella). It left the opening-night audience whooping with delight.

The story came across clearly: poor-but-beautiful Cinderella (Frances Bible) falls in love with the prince-in-disguise (Riccardo Manning), who marries her because he knows she loves him for himself, not just for his title. Gioacchino Rossini and his librettist left out all references to fairy godmothers, pumpkins and glass slippers. But Rossini filled his work with a cloudburst of pretty tunes whose lightning changes of mood had a magical charm of their own.

Down with Melodrama. Ironically, the real reason for Cenerentola's long neglect has been another quality of Rossini's score: it demands the coloratura style throughout. The men as well as the women are called upon for whirlwind runs, tumbling arpeggios and fluttering trills. Today's singers (except for a few sopranos with eccentric larynxes) consider coloratura about as easy as tightrope walking, and few bother to take the necessary strenuous training.

But Lincoln Kirstein, boss man at City Center, knew the company of young singers were willing to tackle anything, even coloratura. Moreover, Kirstein himself is tiring of the heavy melodrama of Verdi and the heavy orchestras of Wagner. He is betting that the future lies with compositions that combine high spirits and vocal acrobatics. He decided that Cenerentola might help him test his theory.

Up with Trills. The test could hardly have pleased Lincoln Kirstein more. Mezzo-Soprano Bible, whose best roles heretofore have been a couple of light-hearted male impersonations (Cherubino in Figaro, Octavian in Rosertkavalier), never looked prettier. She trilled out her coloratura passages like a flute, and also shook the rafters with a few stunning fortissimos. Baritone George Gaynes, who is Rosalind Russell's leading man in Broadway's Wonderful Town, took a night off to play the part of the prince's scene-stealing valet, and indulge in some jaunty clowning. Biggest joke of all was John Butler's deadpan ballet--a sextet of nymphs and fauns taking authentic antique poses in long pink underwear--that started the audience giggling, and left it howling with laughter.

City Opera seemed to have found its best audience-pleaser yet. Kirstein, with some solid evidence for his theory, is now talking about reviving Vincenzo Bellini's pyrotechnical 19th century operas I Puritani and La Sonnambula.

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