A modern and magical Cinderella

English National Opera opens its 2025-26 season with Rossini's comedy La Cenerentola (Cinderella).

- Imogen Tilden

The conductor, director, and both leads are all making their ENO debuts, in a production set in a contemporary world but with moments of magic, plus white mice, a pumpkin and a glass slipper - even if Rossini's version involves matching bracelets.

"At the time of its premiere in Rome in 1817, you were not allowed to show bare ankles on stage," says the conductor Yi-Chen Lin, and so the glass slipper was swapped for bracelets. Nor is there a fairy godmother - instead there's Alidoro, the prince's tutor, while Don Magnifico, Cinderella's stepfather, is the selfish parent who mistreats his stepdaughter.