New Victoria Theatre, Woking, until 21 September, then touring
Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert
4****
This Cinderella is retold in a Russian setting, and it has a charming, pop-up picturebook look, with costumes inspired by Russian traditions and folk art. Choreographer and director David Nixon has avoided pantomime conventions but still provides plenty of enchantment. Instead of a fairy godmother, there’s a magician (Mlindi Kulashe) who does a very nifty spell to turn kitchen rags into a sparkly ball gown. He also transforms a kitchen stove into a coach drawn by cuddlesome dogs that should delight children in the audience.
If you are taking children, you might need to explain the slightly amended plot. The opening scenes show Cinderella as a child, who loses her father in an accident partly caused by the stepsisters. The stepmother blames Cinders and packs her off to work in the kitchen. Actually this backstory makes more sense than the usual version. Cinderella is saved because she is good: she helps the magician and he repays the favour.
The dancing is graceful and lovely, as far as this non-expert can tell. The acting is also very good. Rachel Gillespie is a sweet young Cinders, and Antoinette Brooks-Daw takes over as a radiant older Cinderella. The stepmother (Minju Kang) is splendidly chilly, and the stepsisters (Kyungka Kwak and Ayami Miyata) are convincingly mean rather than ugly. There’s a street fair with a dancing bear, skating scenes on a crystal lake, and a pretty (though rather long) ballroom scene. In a surprise plot twist (spoiler alert), the prince (Sean Bates) initially turns down Cinderella – seemingly because she has washing-up hands. My companion did briefly hope that Cinders would reject him and go off with the magician, but all ends well, in a swirl of sparkly magic dust.
Seeing this on a hot September day felt like an early taste of Christmas. If you’ve had a surfeit of over-the-top pantos, this is a subtler alternative, with bags of charm. It was first put on in 2013, and has a specially commissioned score by Philip Feeney, played with spirit by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia.