For Vashon Opera, ‘happily-ever-after’ season starts now

Published 12:47 pm Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Vashon Opera will launch its 16th season with Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon” (Cinderella), with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

“Cendrillon,” with a French libretto by Henri Cain, is the first of two operas with fairy tale themes on Vashon Opera’s schedule in 2025 and 2026. In May, the company will bring 19th-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” to the stage.

According to Allison Pohl, Vashon Opera’s artistic director, now is the perfect time to dive into the world of classic storybook tales with happy endings.

Calling the company’s fairy tale season “exactly the salve and escape we need and crave,” Pohl said that although the stories of Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel are familiar and beloved to all, their operatic versions offer something even more poignant and powerful.

“The soaring music heightens the characters’ experiences in a way that can only be achieved by opera,” she said, adding that Vashon Opera is eager to welcome families to the productions.

“They are a perfect introduction to opera — and the start of a bonding family tradition that can be passed down from generation to generation,” she said.

“Cendrillon,” filled with humor but also focusing on the emotional core of the rags-to-riches tale, is French Romanticism at its finest, Pohl said, adding that the company for the Vashon production boasts “exquisite vocal prowess.”

In the title role, rising mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit will make her Vashon Opera debut, building on recent credits that include principal roles in opera companies throughout the United States, including Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Baltimore, Utah Opera, Opera San Antonio and San Francisco Opera.

Coit is excited to sing the role, she said, comparing the opera’s score to “French dessert after French dessert.”

Her 2025-2026 season, in addition to “Cendrillon,” includes the title role in Handel’s “Rinaldo” with Pacific Northwest Opera, Miss Jessel in Opera Tampa’s “The Turn of the Screw,” Handel’s “Messiah” with Glacier Symphony, Rosina in Knoxville Opera’s “The Barber of Seville” and multiple concert appearances.

Serena Eduljee, a soprano known for her astonishing coloratura and dynamic stage presence, will wave the fairy godmother’s magic wand in “Cendrillon” — also in a debut performance for Vashon Opera.

Her recent featured roles have included Musetta in Tacoma Opera’s “La Bohème,” Rosina in The Pacific Northwest Opera’s “Barber of Seville,” and Olympia, the iconic doll, in Pacific Northwest Opera’s production of “The Tales of Hoffmann.”

Vashon Opera favorite Grace Skinner will return to Vashon Opera, where she has previously sung principle roles in “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “The Marriage of Figaro,” this time taking on the role of Prince Charming — or Prince Charmant, as the character is called in the opera.

Praised by The Herald-Times for her “strength and great vocal flexibility,” Skinner has won the Seattle Opera Guild Singers’ Development Competition, the Indianapolis Musicale Matinee Competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters Vocal Competition. Some of her recent operatic roles include Rosina in “The Barber of Seville,” Dinah in “Trouble in Tahiti” and the title roles of “Giulio Cesare” and “Carmen.”

As for Cinderella’s family, Andy Papas will take on the role of Cinderella’s doting father, and Korby Myrick will sing the role of the awful stepmother. Cassandra Willcock and Lillian Gundersen have been cast as Cinderella’s devilish stepsisters.

Other noted Pacific Northwest singers will round out the cast: Justin Birchell as the king, Alexander Adams as the first minister, Jonah Spool as the master of ceremonies, and Allen Tugade as the dean of the faculty. A sextet of singers will sing the roles of the Fairy Godmother’s attending spirits: Sophia Emanuel, Sarah Santos, Fiore Grey, Veronica Deraleau, Josie Sanders and Elizabeth Peterson.

The production, helmed by stage and music director Jim Brown, will feature noted Northwest and local musicians in the pit, fanciful ball gowns and other elaborate costumes by Alex Lewington, lighting design by Alex Wren, makeup by Trish Partida and wigs by Joyce Degenfelder and Karen Pruett.

Find out more about the production and purchase tickets, at vashonopera.org.