The Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater will perform Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon” this Friday and Saturday night at the Musical Arts Center. The productions, at the Musical Arts Center, will feature two casts, and an “Opera Insights Lecture” presented in the North Lobbyan hour before each performance.
Massenet’s 1899 opera is based on the Cinderella fairy tale featured in many storybooks, like Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” published in the early 1800s.
The opera follows Cendrillon, a young woman finding her place in a blended family after losing her mother. As the opera continues, Cendrillon experiences different kinds of magic, like meeting her Fairy Godmother and finding her prince charming.
Massenet's take on the classic fairy tale differs from other versions, not straying from the emotional turmoil that Cendrillon experiences from the abuse from her stepfamily and her mother’s death. Stage director Gregory Keller said a notable difference is the presence of an “evil” stepmother.
“I think the main thing is there’s like an evil stepmother in this one,” Keller said. “I don’t remember the Disney version, but the other prior versions, there’s a Rossini version, ‘La Cenerentola,’ that’s quite famous where there is no stepmother.”
The stepmother in “Cendrillon,” Keller said, works as a foil to Cendrillon’s father, serving as an overbearing presence throughout the opera. Keller thought Massenet’s version of the story digs deeper into each character’s personalities, providing the depth seen in original text versions of the tale.
“Brothers Grimm did not write these stories for children. They wrote them for adults,” Keller said. “If you go back to the text of these original stories, there’s much darker themes in there, and they’re really about stories for grown-ups to help them understand how difficult it is to live in the world they live in.”
Cendrillon is played by Brittany Weinstock, a performance diploma student who completed her master’s degree from Jacobs School of Music in May 2025. Weinstock has participated in five operas during her time at IU. “Cendrillon” will be her sixth.
Weinstock was cast in “Cendrillon” in October and quickly began studying her character, singing and practicing lines while preparing. She also did language diction coaching to make sure her French was polished.
Weinstock said she is excited to bring Cendrillon to life this weekend, finding that Massenet’s “Cendrillon” feels more natural to her.
“I feel like I’m able to take me myself, Brittany, and kind of enhance it for the stage, of course, but I feel like I’m just kind of moving about within myself,” Weinstock said. “You’ll see a very wide range of emotions and actions of the characters on the stage, but I think it feels very real and natural.”
The students on stage will be accompanied by the Jacobs School of Music’s Concert Orchestra, conducted by Arthur Fagen. “Cendrillon” will serve as the orchestra’s opera/ballet of the semester.
Fagen said the Concert Orchestra and the opera cast have been on stage working on dress rehearsals this week, where the lighting, costumes and sets get added. In these rehearsals, adjustments are made so that the orchestra and singers can move more harmoniously with each other in the actual performance.
Fagen describes the music as light and lyrical, taking inspiration from other operas from the 19th century.
“I’ve done a lot of late 19th century French opera, and I find it in many ways very typical,” Fagen said. “It’s written in a much, I have to say, lighter vein, although the chromaticism implies something a little darker.”
The orchestra, cast and directors will continue rehearsing and polishing “Cendrillion,” getting ready for the performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets for “Cendrillon” are available at varied prices and discounted to $12 for students.
