(Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer) The prince isn’t the only charmer in Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” which the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater has dusted off and placed endearingly onstage in Kulas Hall. The piece plants itself in your heart and funny bone, thanks to a score suffused with luscious invention.

Something must be in the operatic waters in Northeast Ohio. Within a month, audiences will have experienced three works they may never have heard: Karol Szymanowski’s “King Roger” by Opera Circle, “Cendrillon” at CIM and William Bolcom’s “A Wedding” next week in Oberlin.

Massenet’s 1899 opera is popular in Europe, especially on home turf in France, but rarely performed in North America. It’s possible the piece’s sugar content is too high for some tastes. The Metropolitan Opera has never produced the work.