What was not so nice was the coat check lady, who, waited on about six old people before she took my coat, looked me up and down and said, "You have a seat in the BALCONY?" (full price for the ticket was €80), to which I replied, "Indeed I do." I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her.
It was my first time to the Volksoper as well. My landlady doesn't like the Volksoper, but I thought the production was charming. Really, La Cenerentola is more of an operette, seeing as there are only six characters, and the show has only two acts. The story goes that a girl is enslaved by her stepfather to do the housework and care for her two ugly stepsisters. Then, one day, the prince comes into the village disguised as his valet and he and Cenerentola fall in love. Unbeknownst to the sisters, however. They take the valet for the real prince, and fight over him. That's most of the thing. And then, at the end, good triumps and Cenerentola and the prince are married and live happily ever after, at least until curtain call.
I loved the performance, in fact. The part of Cenerentola is sung by a Contralto or Mezzo Soprano. Being a Mezzo, I liked that. Also, the costumes were outrageous - they did overdone baroque to a T. The physical humor between the stepsisters was also magnificent. Those ladies can do acrobatics! And, come to think of it, the sets were a bit bland, which fit with the smallness of the production (in contrast to Die Zauberflöte) and contrasted finely with the costuming. But, I cannot forgive the lack of attention to color scheme: one sister had a peachy costume, the other had a mint green one (otherwise identical) and the father had a forest green costume. The walls were also green, and there was JUST TOO MUCH GREEN! I would have done the walls in gray or blue, and the father in purple. Cenerentola's ball gown was white (Disney inspiration, anyone?) and the prince wore red, which made the whole thing too Christmas party for me - thus, blue walls. Or gray.
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