The current 2017 – 18 Season of live satellite broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York direct to the Big Screen at the Regent in Christchurch, continues with one of Massenet’s most appealing operas, Cendrillon, which will be screened live at the Centre on Saturday 28 April 5.55pm.

Cendrillon is the composer’s version of the famous rags to riches story of Cinderella and contains some of his finest music. Premiering in Paris in 1899, Cendrillon has, unjustly, been neglected in favour of Rossini’s 1817 opera of the same fairy tale, La Cenerentola. This is, therefore, a rare opportunity to see Massenet’s masterpiece in this brand new production from the Met, in which the composer uses the fairy tale as a means of probing human nature itself.

A fairy godmother, a glass slipper, an opulent ball, an enchanted forest, and a Prince Charming who loves her—did all that really happen, or was it just a dream? Long-suffering Cendrillon lives a life of drudgery with her good-natured father and his imperious wife until fate, romance, and a touch of fairy magic intervene.

For the first time ever, Massenet’s sumptuous version of the Cinderella story comes to the Met in this imaginative storybook production directed by Laurent Pelly. Superstar Joyce DiDonato sings the title role, alongside British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as the archetypal wicked stepmother complete the principals in this magnificent new production..