Lyric Theatre, The Lowry, Manchester – Wednesday March 1st 2017. Reviewed by Julie Noller
I took my 14 year old daughter to see this production, her experience of Cinderella was either Disney Films or Panto. I was curious for her fresh take on the performance. Act I began and she like I was mesmerised. How did Jenna Roberts as Cinderella manage to dance without shoes? Was the topic of our conversation during the first interval, amazing you can see every detail, how her feet rise, how strong must she be to hold those stances up high on her toes!
I never expected Ballet to be so full of humour, energy and glitzy costumes yes, but the humour and facial expressions as well as exaggerated movements to me make this a clear winner over panto. If you have a young princess or indeed prince who will laugh at the sillyness of panto but not understand the adult themed jokes then this performance is for them. It was down to earth with characters who not only show skills beyond my comprehension but convey emotion. From the very beginning we see raw emotion , Cinderella silhouetted at her Mothers graveside, weeping to her Father and eventually alone apart from her Stepmother and step sisters. The music of Sergei Prokofiev is an excellent accompaniment throughout.
Prior to each act we noticed that the clock face on the curtain changed, with the clock eventually breaking and shattering, as time and reality fragment. The set was fast moving with the stage becoming smaller depending upon dance or characters on stage and easily doubling in size if needed, especially for the larger group dances which reminded me of early musical numbers in films where large dance routines required a sweeping staircase. To me something clicked with my love of musicals and a new found love of Ballet. It was well put together and the theatrics of the fireplace firstly a real fire bringing warmth to a gloomy cellar and then dry ice filling the same cellar with wonder and magic announcing the Fairy Godmothers arrival, this kept things moving at a fast pace.
The main bulk of humour came from the Step Sisters ‘ugly sisters’ who were not played by men following traditions but by women. Skinny and Dumpy were cleverly dressed obviously it was Dumpy wearing a fat suit and once again I found myself transfixed as to how they managed to dance so well, so badly, it was all so well choreographed by David Bintley. From the bullying of Cinderella in the cellar watched by Cinderellas Stepmother (Marion Tait) who wielded a cane for nothing more than power and I expected her to rap it against the cold hard floor in demands of Cinderella, reminiscent of Fame. The Sisters became man hungry, craving attention and showing off their poor dancing skills at the Princes Ball, fighting against each other, knocking into people and in Dumpys case chasing after the cakes much to our amusement.
The fairy Godmother (Yvette Knight) sometimes mirrored Cinderellas dances highlighting the goodness and magic. We are introduced to the four seasons each with fantastic colour appropriate costumes and individual dance.
In preparing to attend the ball we see the building of the carriage a stunning glass effect and quite possibly the cutest ballet dancers – Frog Coachman, Lizard Coachman and Mice Pages. If this was the film version, then I’d already have these cuddly characters on my wish list to purchase.
During Act II for the ball sequence between the Prince and Cinderella I overheard someone whisper ‘how does she do that’ the answer ‘skill’. Indeed it was wonderful to watch and I found myself not taking in the wonderful sparkly costumes but transfixed on her feet, watching each move with awe and wonder. We saw the other attendees disappear as the Prince (William Bracewell) only has eyes for Cinderella. He easily lifted her up and spun her in moves that put Strictly Come Dancing to shame and had the audience cheering and gasping. Eventually the Fairy Godmother arrives to rescue Cinderella, who doesn’t want to be rescued and is reluctant to leave but eventually flees into the night without a trace.
Act III begins with the Prince determined to find his beauty. Seeking her out amongst all the women in his kingdom is a tiring job there’s a shoe mountain to negotiate and then the poor men are chased by hoards of shoe wielding hopping women. Eventually the Prince and his men find their way to the house with the Stepmother and Sisters who cause such a commotion that Cinderella almost goes unnoticed not before she once again has her very own solo dance barefooted whilst remembering the magic of the ball. I am pleased that the Ballet ended not on, and everyone lived happily ever after moment but with a romantic very intimate (excluding the audience) dance between Cinderella and her Prince which left us feeling warm and fuzzy and my daughter asking when the next Ballet was!