Once again, the ugly duckling became the swan, not only in the great archetypal ascension of Cinderella from ashes to the throne, but in the performance itself Saturday evening in the War Memorial Opera House. Opening the Opera's summer season, Rossini's "Cenerentola," in the ancient (1969) but still charming Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production, creaked and almost croaked at first. The estimable Patrick Summers, who has conducted many memorable performances in this house, came close to a personal-worst in directing a slow, sloppy, plodding first hour. The music - low-key, low-octane, enervated - consisted of separate notes, individual phrases. Woodwinds and brass stank. It was not a pretty picture, and highly unusual. Matters were not helped much by whoever was reworking Ponnelle's staging (Grischa Asagaroff is credited in the program) by having the cast walk in various "funny" ways and bounce to the music. At first, even Juan Diego Florez, one of the finest lyrical tenors alive, sounded tentative, the voice thinner than usual - and it's not a particularly robust one even at his best. In the title role, Mika Shigematsu (stepping in after the cancellation by Sonia Ganassi, alternating with Theodora Hanslowe) sang adequately, respectably, the performance falling way short of the Big Statement a first-class Cinderella can make. Slowly - very slowly - life seeped into the performance, going well by the end of Act 1, hitting some real high notes in Act 2. Florez's second aria had a joyously pure sound, Shigematsu hit big time in the finale. Eike Wilm Schulte as Alidoro and, especially, Kevin Glavin as Don Magnifico, made impressive local premieres. Glavin, not a particularly remarkable singer, is an excellent actor, and he was able to make the very (too) broad characterization of Rossini's prequel to Baron Ochs work. Acting well and singing merely mezzo-mezzo, Daniel Belcher was the Dandini. Two Merola/Adler veterans, Saundra DeAthos and Catherine Cook took the roles of Clorinda and Tisbe, respectively. They made the best of the manic direction, and Cook's vocal performance contrasted with the rest of the cast, being topnotch from beginning to end. Ian Robertson's chorus, a small men's group, followed the general order of the day, starting tentatively and not quite being there, but eventually working up to a fine finish. Shigematsu will perform again on June 13; Hanslowe will take the title role for the rest of the "Cenerentola" performances, on June 19, 22, 25, 28, and July 6. Janos Gereben/SF www.sfcv.org [log in to unmask]