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Australian Ballet: Cinderella, London, July 2016


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Sadly, I fear I'm going to have to limit myself to one outing for this at these prices, so I'd really appreciate hearing thoughts about other casts.

 

Incidentally, would anyone like to take a stab at guessing who'll be doing the cinema relay next season?  That way, I could pick a different cast to go and see.

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Oh, thanks, Bluebird. The only casting I could find on their rather confusing site was for the London run.

The Swan Lake casting on their website was inaccurate for the two matinées. I'm currently trying to find out this week's Cinderella casting. I've left my email address with one of the Australian Ballet representatives. If she gets back to me I'll post it here.

Edited by Bluebird
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Australian Ballet open their run of Cinderella at the Coliseum tonight.  Please use this thread to record your thoughts.

 

I am looking forward to the matinee on Saturday.

 

Me too!

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From looking at Booking on the Coliseum/ENO site, sales look very disappointing. Great seats still available. I wonder if bringing 2 relatively modern interpretations to London was a mistake. I feel sad that they will be playing to a largely empty theatre but personally unable to go to this one and not so keen on the choreography anyway.

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So, you've seen it somewhere else, then, Blossom?

 

I agree, the sales do look pretty disappointing.  If the tkts tickets were cheaper, i.e. covered a wider range of seats, I'd be tempted myself.

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It was virtually full last night - in the stalls at least - and what I could see of the balconies looked fairly well populated.

 

I would thoroughly recommend this Cinderella to anyone who is wavering. Very witty and confident choreography, some of it reasonably virtuosic, surreal designs that felt very fresh and dancing of a more than respectable standard. I think what I liked most about the company though was the enthusiasm they brought to the acting and characterisation - the stepsisters and the outrageous 'himbo' of a prince arriving in the ballroom were the most obvious examples but the corps de ballet all contributed their little character/story touches too. And the lead couple in the final pas de deux were surprisingly touching.

 

Ratmansky is clever! Would love to see him do a full length for one of the U.K.-based companies.

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Firstly, I must acknowledge that judging by the audience reaction last night my opinion is in a minority. (I was in the Balcony, of which the central part was quite full but the sides pretty empty.) But I was really disappointed by this Cinderella, which I had been quite excited about seeing. It had so many holes and problems that it was impossible (for me at least) to believe in what was happening. Combine that with choreography that to my great surprise I found often clunky, unimaginative or just plain silly, and a regular failure to use the gorgeous music effectively, and I found the result really disappointing. It's a big, ambitious and well-danced production, with some extremely impressive sets and costumes; but for me it lacked credibility, poetry and mystery. 

 
A few of the random questions that arose for me as I watched: why does the stepmother look exactly the same age as her daughters (at least from as far afield as the Balcony)? Why does the fairy godmother wear a bowler hat and a deliberately silly long nose? She plays a serious role in the story, but just looks ridiculous for no apparent reason. Which would be OK if this was a cartoon version of Cinderella, or a surrealist version, but it isn't - it's a largely conventional production. Where is it indicated in the first act that a prince is to hold a ball and that's where Cinderella will be going? (Maybe I just missed that, especially because there was a very tall man sitting in front of me so it was difficult to see the whole stage, but it is quite a crucial element of the story.) Why do the women at the ball (at least at first) wear trouser suits? If that's what women wear at balls in this Cinderella world, which would be fine, why then do the stepmother and stepsisters and of course Cinderella herself aspire to and then wear beautiful ball gowns? Why do lots of metronomes appear at the end of the ball? Spectacular from a design point of  view, but metronomes indicate speed, not time, and the whole point is that the crucial TIME of midnight is approaching. Why use, repeatedly, an effect of mottled lighting on the stage which has the effect of making the dancers legs and the shape of the choreography all but invisible? Why does the prince apparently need to travel by ship, train and car (brilliant backcloths here) in search of his love, when Cinderella's family clearly had to make no such journey to go TO the ball? If meant to be symbolic of the 'journey of love', it's a very literal and unpoetic (though visually thrilling) depiction of the idea that doesn't match the music. Who are the women, and then the men, who dance with the prince en route to finding Cinderella? (I didn't buy a programme, which perhaps would have explained this. But it shouldn't need a programme to know at least roughly who the characters are in a work.) Why, if Cinderella is about to marry a prince, does her father shake hands with him rather than bowing? If this intends to portray a more egalitarian social order, which would be fine, why is he treated in a more prince-like fashion elsewhere in the work? And I have to say I found the resemblance of the prince to a 1970s John Travolta rather distracting (but maybe that's just me).
 
Now I know you could say: these questions are too literal, it's a fairy tale, it doesn't have to make sense or be consistent. I would disagree. All fairy tales have to make sense - it's why their outcomes matter to us, and why they have lasted. They're not just airy, puffy stories to be played around with at will. If they're to be adapted, the adaptations must make sense so that the resulting whole still has a dramatic and symbolic coherence, otherwise the tales lose all their power and all their point.
 
But: I thought the dancers were very good, with Leanne Stojmenov a sympathetic Cinderella, Kevin Jackson commanding the stage as the prince, and strong support from the rest of the company.
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Bridie: Neil Norman, reviewing for The Stage, seems on your side:

https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2016/cinderella-review-at-london-coliseum/

 

 

Edited to say that, a little unusually, a number of papers have reviews up already:

 

Hanna Weibye, Arts Desk:  http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/cinderella-ratmanskyaustralian-ballet-london-coliseum

 

Mark Monahan, Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/australian-ballet-coliseum-review-the-quest-for-the-perfect-cind/

 

Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/arts/cinderellaaustralian-ballet-review-a-hint-of-realism-beneath-the-silliness-a3300941.html

 

I'll leave it at that for the rest of the day - see tomorrow's Links.

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I've been given the casting for the rest of the week with the usual warning that it might have to be changed.

Treat with caution:

 

This afternoon Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo

Tonight Amber Scott and Ty King-Wall

Friday Leanne Stojmenov and Kevin Jackson

Saturday matinée Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo

Saturday evening Amber Scott and Ty King-Wall

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I am very sad to see the negative comments by people who have not seen this production. As was mentioned the Coliseum was over 80% full last night and the reception was enthusiastic. My wife and I enjoyed it very much. It is great fun with lots of nice touches. Go and judge for yourselves and if you get a good price ticket it will be a bonus. My pictures will follow soon I just had to stop the negative build up.

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I've been given the casting for the rest of the week with the usual warning that it might have to be changed.

Treat with caution:

 

This afternoon Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo

Tonight Amber Scott and Ty King-Wall

Friday Leanne Stojmenov and Kevin Jackson

Saturday matinée Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo

Saturday evening Amber Scott and Ty King-Wall

Thanks, Bluebird. I think that's the reverse of the Saturday casting on the website. If so, it's going to limit my options somewhat.

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It's strange that this production hasn't sold well when last summer DNB's sold so well (I think that with the exception of the Thursday matinee it sold out). I suppose that AB's visit may have been overshadowed by the visit of the Bolshoi.

 

It probably doesn't help ticket sales (a) that you are immediately taken to ENO's productions and have to search around for any dance; and (B) that the 'front page' for Cinderella only mentions evening performances and no matinees.

Edited by aileen
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The design is completely surrealist bridiem. The bowler hat, the eyes on the metronomes and the shoe-shaped hats etc. are pure Magritte.

 

And besides being very glamorous, the women's silk trouser suits were used to make a point. When they saw the prince fall for Cinderella in the dress they all scurried off to put on dresses except the sisters, already a step behind, who changed into suits.

 

I was amused by that and also by the John-travolta-esque preening prince. I must say it's far preferable to 'noble' men in ballet tights which I always find faintly ridiculous.

 

But fair to say if you are looking for the "pure" Ashton version this is not for you. But I found it much fresher. When Cinderella has a solo that shows off her arabesque lines and pirouettes but also includes little "andy Murray" style fist pumps done on pointe, all delivered with a knowing wit, then I am amused and entertained. Your mileage may vary.

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In answer to Bridiem's other question about the prince's journey by ship, train..etc, the original Prokoviev Cinderella had the prince travelling round the world to find Cinderella. I understand this is supposed to be because, since nobody knew who she was, he'd assumed she must be a foreign princess.

Edited by Bluebird
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In answer to Bridie's other question about the prince's journey by ship, train..etc, the original Prokoviev Cinderella had the prince travelling round the world to find Cinderella. I understand this is supposed to be because he'd assumed she must be a foreign princess since nobody knew who she was.

 

Yes - and the Bolshoi version still has this. The music for that sequence is wonderful, I think.

 

Having exhausted my resources on the Bolshoi this summer, I didn't book for The Australian Ballet. So it's been good to read varying views here and on the Swan Lake thread. What do people feel about the overall quality of the dancing?.

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I thought the dancing was good with patches of very good indeed. Both leads were very secure and some of the prince's solos really took flight.

 

There were a few moments, eg, four men leaping in unison, where things got a little bit messy and unsychronised, but I think we really are spoiled in London by the quality of the regular dancers we see. For me, and in this ballet, the standard of dancing was more than respectably good and the acting made the piece. I think Ratmansky made the right ballet on the right company. Which is to say I saw no budding Osipova or Polunin but that kind of virtuosity is not what the evening was about.

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The design is completely surrealist bridiem. The bowler hat, the eyes on the metronomes and the shoe-shaped hats etc. are pure Magritte.

 

And besides being very glamorous, the women's silk trouser suits were used to make a point. When they saw the prince fall for Cinderella in the dress they all scurried off to put on dresses except the sisters, already a step behind, who changed into suits.

 

I was amused by that and also by the John-travolta-esque preening prince. I must say it's far preferable to 'noble' men in ballet tights which I always find faintly ridiculous.

 

But fair to say if you are looking for the "pure" Ashton version this is not for you. But I found it much fresher. When Cinderella has a solo that shows off her arabesque lines and pirouettes but also includes little "andy Murray" style fist pumps done on pointe, all delivered with a knowing wit, then I am amused and entertained. Your mileage may vary.

 

I wouldn't say it's 'completely' surrealist, Lindsay - a few stock (maybe even clichéd) surrealist images in the midst of a largely traditional production doesn't a surrealist ballet make. But I didn't know about Man Ray and metronomes as mentioned in one of the newspaper reviews, which does explain them (though it doesn't completely remove my objection to them).

 

But yes, I completely missed the point about the trouser suits (I didn't realise the second lot of women were the same ones as the first lot, so I was clearly confused!).

 

I wouldn't have expected or wanted this to be like the Ashton version (or any other version). What I expected and hoped was that it would be coherent and that the choreography would be more subtle and interesting than it was.

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In answer to Bridiem's other question about the prince's journey by ship, train..etc, the original Prokoviev Cinderella had the prince travelling round the world to find Cinderella. I understand this is supposed to be because, since nobody knew who she was, he'd assumed she must be a foreign princess.

 

Thanks, Bluebird - that's interesting. I did think the designs at that stage were stunning.

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It's strange that this production hasn't sold well when last summer DNB's sold so well (I think that with the exception of the Thursday matinee it sold out). I suppose that AB's visit may have been overshadowed by the visit of the Bolshoi.

 

It probably doesn't help ticket sales (a) that you are immediately taken to ENO's productions and have to search around for any dance; and ( B) that the 'front page' for Cinderella only mentions evening performances and no matinees.

 

Yes - I've sometimes (before joining this Forum!) missed interesting dance things on at the Coliseum because their website is so ENO-orientated.

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Yes - I've sometimes (before joining this Forum!) missed interesting dance things on at the Coliseum because their website is so ENO-orientated.

 

Rather to be expected, perhaps, when the Coliseum is owned by ENO.

 

But I do agree that the website is not the most helpful one around.

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From looking at Booking on the Coliseum/ENO site, sales look very disappointing. Great seats still available. I wonder if bringing 2 relatively modern interpretations to London was a mistake. I feel sad that they will be playing to a largely empty theatre but personally unable to go to this one and not so keen on the choreography anyway.

Oh I do hope they don't close the higher tiers and re allocate seats like with RNZB last year as I want the seat I booked!

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I've been mulling all day over my reaction to last night's performance  and I have to say I was rather underwhelmed by the whole thing. There were some lovely touches but, as Bridem has already pointed out, far too many inconsistencies. I also found some of the costumes very unappealing and the choreography rather bland. By far the best thing was Eloise Fryer's 'dumpy' ugly sister. She really went to town with her characterisation, but what really made it for me was her uncanny resemblance to Paloma Faith......

Edited by Mummykool
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