Walt Disney turned over in his grave Friday night, shaking the ground in Southern California as the tremors roiled through his crypt.

The cause of this disturbance was the two wicked stepsisters in "Cinderella" who opened the season at Skylight Music Theatre by going bowling, chain smoking cigarettes, slamming down booze straight from the bottle, taking a selfie and waking in a color-drenched bedroom, hung over and exhausted.

Right away, you knew this wasn’t Disney’s version of the folk tale but a modern mounting of the opera by Gioachino Rossini, running at the Skylight through Oct. 5. In its recent past, the Skylight has moved almost exclusively into the world of musical theater, consistently producing stellar productions of musicals usually familiar to an audience. Friday night’s performance was a clear indication that under the artistic direction of Viswa Subbaraman, opera is back.

Thank God!

After almost three hours of storytelling and music, I looked at my watch and wondered where the time had gone. It was an evening of spellbinding singing combined with disciplined and expertly directed acting that cast a magical spell on the audience. Just like one of Disney’s famous films.

In this opera, Rossini gave us the stepsisters, played by Erin Sura and Kristen Ninno; a fatuous, greedy and lustful stepfather, Magnifico, played marvelously by Andy Papas; a prince and his lackey played by Luke Grooms and Dimitrie Lazich; an advisor and spiritual guru to the prince, played by LaMarcus Miller; and, of course, Cinderella, played by Sishel Claverie.

This Cinderella doesn’t clean ashes from a hearth but ashes from the overflowing ashtrays of her stepsisters. She is burdened with picking up the seemingly endless stream of multi-colored gowns and accessories they wear and discard. And she is scorned by Magnifico and driven into a secluded corner to wistfully wonder her way out.

Then along comes Prince Charming, disguised as the lackey while the lackey is disguised as the prince. The switch is prompted so the real prince can more closely examine the motives of those girls who are suitors to him. He promptly falls in love with Cinderella, and we are off to the races. The ball takes place, and the sisters know one of them will be chosen. Their father is in a hurry to get one of those taken as a princess.

But, as we know, all is well that ends well. The prince and Cinderella wed, she leads the forgiveness for the cruelty of her family as the chorus sings, "Down in the dirt lies vanity and virtue takes the crown."

One of the critical elements of this production is that it is entirely in English, with the translation from Italian by Amanda Holden with some significant tweaking by music director Subbaraman and stage director Jill Anna Ponasik. The opera is a soaring event in Italian, but the English version was no less intriguing, and it added a healthy dose of humor that would be missing for a Milwaukee audience if it was in Italian.

It’s hard to overstate the impressive collaboration between Ponasik and Subbaraman in bringing this to the stage. He is a music director of serious achievement, but he has always also had a strong sense of theatricality about his work. Ponasik is a serious director and, as artistic director at the Milwaukee Opera Company, has always had a significant musical sense to her work.

Opera, any opera, is about great music, but even more than that it is about a story. The music tells the story, but it can’t just be singing. Like any great theater, we have to believe in these characters. We may admire their singing with our ears, but we fall in love with them in our hearts.

Ponasik’s steady and creative hand was clear in these singers and actors. She drew the kind of emotion out of them that makes for a wonderful theatrical experience. She is establishing a serious reputation in this town, and her work here makes seeing her Milwaukee Opera Company a necessary ticket this season.

No review about this production would be complete without mentioning some of the most stunning costume design I have ever seen, created by Cesar Galindo, a highly respected fashion designer and creator of the CZAR brand of clothing. The costumes are a vivid reflection of each character and, like a designer with his own line should, Galindo demonstrates how each individual piece is a part of a magnificent whole.

Skylight’s theme for this season is the creation of fairy tales and fantasies. With this "Cinderella," they are off to a wonderful start.