To start with, let’s get one thing out in the open: I had never been to a ballet production before Cinderella. I was immediately overwhelmed by gratitude for Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella being my first. The skill of the dancers to not only perform exquisitely (as is a given) but to bring so much life, humour and emotion to their characters was almost baffling.
Ratmansky’s choreography is wonderfully complex – allowing the immaculate talent of the each cast member to shine through uniquely – and painstakingly nuanced in ways you suspect are there, but cannot see. An overwhelming delight came from costume, set and projection designs that were comedic, surreal, dazzling and subtle, harkening to productions of the past and a hallucinogenic experience all at once.
I could prattle on for hundreds of words about how great Cinderella is – how striking it is visually, the deranged magnetism of Amy Harris as the Stepmother, the orchestra – but the biggest praise I can offer is that Cinderella has the power to make an apathetic person genuinely interested in, and affected by, their first ballet production. That is why, regardless of amateur or seasoned status, you need to go see Cinderella.
