LA CENERENTOLA to be Screened Live from the Met at Town Hall Theater, 5/11

She has become a favorite at the Metropolitan Opera, earning accolades for every role she attempts. Mezzo Joyce DiDonato returns to end this opera season with her first La Cenerentola, and the reviews are glorious.

The New York time calls her "a dazzling, plucky and endearingly poignant Cinderella," and her performance a triumph. The reviews are equally fine for the Prince, tenor Javier Camarena, whose "melting, pliant phrases" and magnificent high C's are winning extended ovations every night.

La Cenerentola is Rossini's version of the Cinderella story, full of his signature wit and bubbling ensembles. "It's exciting to end the broadcast season with Rossini," says Town Hall Theater executive director Douglas Anderson, "because in a few weeks we begin rehearsal for another Rossini masterpiece, The Italian Girl in Algiers, which opens on May 30. We're having our own mini-festival of Rossini here in Middlebury, and I think some of his effervescent comedy is exactly what we need after our long winter."

An informative pre-show talk will be given by Scott Morrison at 12:15 on the lower level of the theater.

La Cenerentola will be screened on Sunday, May 11, at 1 pm at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater. Tickets are $24/$10 students, and may be purchased at www.townhalltheater.org, 802 382-9222, at the THT Box Office (Mon-Sat, noon-5 pm) or at the door.

Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera