Cinderella review – fun-forward fairytale kicks off ENO makeover

London Coliseum
Julia Burbach’s energetic staging of Rossini sets the tone for English National Opera’s new split-site era, bringing lashings of chorus comedy and a pacy conductor’s debut by Yi-Chen Lin

• Picture essay: behind the scenes of the ENO’s new production

A new production of an opera based on a story we all know, a clutch of company debuts – including both conductor and director – and a red carpet rolled out on the tarmac outside. After the turbulence and uncertainty of recent years, English National Opera opened its first season split between the London Coliseum and its new home in Manchester with an energetic display of institutional confidence. Not to mention a clear commitment to all things fun.

Like other variants, Rossini’s take on the Cinderella story – usually known as La Cenerentola– is a rags-to-riches tale featuring a downtrodden heroine, her dreadful stepsisters and their equally awful father Don Magnifico. Plus a prince, his valet and a fairy godmother character that Rossini and his librettist transformed into a male philosopher, Alidoro. Julia Burbach’s colourful, contemporary-ish staging plays wittily with the story’s familiarity. A small team of uniformed mice equipped with clipboards, iPads and walkie talkies help Alidoro to keep the plot on track. Various shoes are handed around (although the operatic prince’s chosen form of bridal ID is a bracelet). And, instead of a pumpkin carriage, the stage is dominated throughout by a large metal-doored lift, which delivers the transformed Cinders to the party at the crucial moment.