Sometimes you need to get away from politics and feel really good about something. I recently came across a new operetta based on the story of Cinderella but with a twist. In this delightful version, the mean stepmother owns an opera house, the step-sisters are wannabe divas, and poor Cinderella, though a composer, is relegated to sweeping the floors and copying out parts for the musicians.
The gimmick of the glass slipper is replaced by the prince (who is a poet) trying to find the woman who wrote a musical settting for one of his poems.
Though this opera is very new, it is in a style reminiscent of Mozart and Schubert, with touches of Wagner, and Arthur Sullivan.
The composer of the operetta is a 12 year old girl from England. Her name is Alma Deutscher. The original idea is hers, as is all of the music, including the arrangement for a full 40-player orchestra. The lyrics were contributed by several people.
Alma participated fully in the rehersals at all stages and the participants report that, although she is really just the little girl she appears to be, her interactions with them were entirely professional and very focused.
The opera was first performed at a very small scale in Israel (Alma’s father was born there) in Hebrew. Zubin Mehta became interested leading to a larger performance in Vienna, this time in German. More benefactors became involved leading to a December 2017 run at the San Jose opera house, in English. No expense was spared for this lavish production, with world-class singers involved.
To give you a taste, here is just the finale. Alma herself is playing the organ at left. Keep an eye on the flower girl — she is Helen, Alma’s younger sister.
More information, reviews, and backstage interviews are at Alma’s web site. The performance was filmed and is available from Amazon.
She writes for, and performs on, piano and violin as well. When she was giving a performance of her violin concerto she was playing on a loaned Guarneri del Gesu violin. Those things are worth over $10 million.
Alma dislikes being compared to Wolfgang Mozart, but at her home on the wall above the piano is a portrait of Nannerl Mozart, Wolfgang’s older sister, who was just as talented a performer as her brother and they would perform together as children. But in those days a woman could not go on to be a composer so she had to give it up. Nobody is holding Alma back.