In March there was a lot of talk about one of the three ballets of the "Philip Glass Evening" programme at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome since it featured costumes by Dior. Yet at times you don't need incredibly famous fashion designers and brands to attract the attention of new generations.
There is for example a version of "La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo" (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant), an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, that for its costumes and make-up has been a hit with young opera fans since it was first staged in 2016.
This Rossini's operatic drama with a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti was first staged in 1817 in Rome. Its story is based on the classic fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1697), combined with two opera librettos - "Cendrillon" by Charles Guillaume Etienne for Nicolò Isouard (1810) and "Agatina, o la virtù premiata" by Francesco Fiorini for Stefano Pavesi (1814).
In this opera, there are some differences compared to the original tale: the protagonist is actually called Angelina and she is known to her family as "Cenerentola". There is also a wicked step-father rather than a step-mother, Don Magnifico, and a tutor to the Prince Don Ramiro, Alidoro who takes the place of The Fairy Godmother.
Angelina has still got two step-sisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, both spoiled, immature and cruel, but she is identified by the prince not by a glass slipper, but by her bracelet. Besides, the opera is characterised not just by a joyous happy ending, but by a moral lesson as Angelina/Cenerentola forgives her family after her wedding to the prince and everyone admits that she is definitely worthy of the throne.
In the Teatro dell'Opera version directed by Emma Dante with a cast featuring Teresa Iervolino (Cenerentola), René Barbera (don Ramiro) and Carlo Lepore (don Magnifico), and sets by Carmine Maringola, there are also costumes by Vanessa Sannino.
Born in Milan, Sannino has a passion for painting but she studied set and costume design, and worked for the stage in France and Italy. In 2010 she received a nomination in the "Best Costumes" category at the Prix Molière for her designs in Jerome Deschamps' "Un fil à la patte" at the Comédie-Française.
Sannino added an arty layer to the designs featured in this version of Cinderella that was first staged in 2016 and that was very successful. Quite a few atmospheres, nuances, colours and moods are indeed inspired by the paintings of Ray Caesar.
In Caesar's works there are always fairy tale-like atmospheres, but they seem to be surrounded by a gothic aura. Surrealism prevails, with images in which memories and dreams conjure up sensual yet frightening visions, and characters such as beautiful princesses who may be dominatrixes and innocent little girls who may (or may not) be disguised monsters.
In Emma Dante's "Cenerentola", Angelina is a fragile character, surrounded by a grotesque family: Don Magnifico is a cruel father and her foster sisters Clorinda and Tisbe are always quarrelsome and incredibly violent towards Angelina who gets constantly mistreated and exploited. Angelina embodies in the play all those women who are oppressed and who suffer from domestic abuses.
Sannino tried to recreate some of the dreamy yet nightmarish moods in Caesar's works on the stage, adding some intriguing anachronisms that come from her background and experience, so that you may spot crinolines and ruffled collars here and there, or huge powdered wigs (you can check out all the illustrations for the costumes here).
The costumes play around with Pop Surrealism and cartoons, and at times the palette with red (or pink) elements punctuating the blue/powdery pale blues prevailing on the stage (check out the blue uniforms, pink shoes and red gloves of the wind-up toy valets) points at Wes Anderson's films.
Angelina calls to mind a sort or Alice in Wonderland with a steampunk edge and her dress integrates a harness and a clock (the dolls surrounding her wear the same outfit), an ensemble slightly reminiscent of the dress donned by the girl in Ray Caesar's "With All Her Worldly Possessions" (View this photo). The clock is a favourite accessory and returns also in the black gown she wears for the party at the prince's palace.
There is also another character with a particularly intriguing costume - Alidoro. His coat and his shirt are indeed complex layered constructions that open up like the pages of a book, symbolising the fact that he is a philosopher and Don Ramiro's teacher (his coat is also lined with book pages), so there's plenty of details to take in this staging of Rossini's "Cenerentola" that will be on at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome from 8th to 13th June.
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