zxDaveM Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the dress rehearsal for Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella at Sadlers Wells, December 2017. Here are some photos: Ashley Shaw, Dominic North © Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Ashley Shaw, Dominic North © Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr See more... Set from DanceTabs: Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianolady Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Beautiful photographs, thank you-have just booked to see this at Milton Keynes. I was a bit undecided as I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the concept but having seen it on TV today, I thought the wartime London setting really worked and added really fascinating layers to the story- as well as wanting to see the production live as I know my smallish TV screen didn't do it anywhere near justice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Hmm, I really struggled with this. What was it meant to be? Its not a musical and if its a dance programme, then there is too little dance in it. The non-dance sections really dragged for me. Disappointed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I was surprised how dark this Cinderella was, too dark for my taste, particularly Cinderella's pervert brother and some of the hospital scenes, and I agree that there was very little dance content, the best and longest was the bedroom pdd near the end of the second act, that was superb. The designs were marvellous however, especially the depiction of wartime London, and loved the Prince's journey through the Underground looking for Cinderella, think it must look and sound much better in the theatre, please tell us what you think when you see it pianolady. Thank goodness for Frederick Ashton's version, he seems the only person able to bring out the beauty of the music. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Didn't enjoy it one little bit. Got horribly muddled with who everyone was, choreography was far too repetitive, perfectly well danced but that's as far as it went. Sets and effects were terrific, for me the best thing about it. The inclusion of the scenes and music for where the Prince is looking for Cinderella made me wish that Ashton had choreographed this section. Wonder why it was omitted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I believe that the explanation that Ashton gave for omitting that section of the score was that he did not like the music or the countries which the prince visited. Having heard the music in the context of balletic versions which included the prince's travels in search of Cinderella I have considerable sympathy for his opinion of the music. It is not particularly varied or inspired. If Ashton had retained the music he would have had to produce choreography for it which presumably would have been equally uninspired and unvaried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 11 hours ago, ninamargaret said: Didn't enjoy it one little bit. Got horribly muddled with who everyone was, choreography was far too repetitive, perfectly well danced but that's as far as it went. Sets and effects were terrific, for me the best thing about it. The inclusion of the scenes and music for where the Prince is looking for Cinderella made me wish that Ashton had choreographed this section. Wonder why it was omitted? DD and I had been really looking forward to watching on the goggle box as she has friends performing in it, but we were underwhelmed too. Agree about the sets, but they weren't really seen to the best effect on TV. There wasn't any stand-out choreography (formulaic according to dd who knows far more than I do) and the whole thing was rather dark and depressing. We didn't like the pervy shoe fetish character either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 I far preferred Red Shoes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianolady Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 For me, the dance content was slightly better than I'd anticipated. Liked the bedroom pas de deux the best. So far I've never been overwhelmed by Bourne's choregroaphy and now I don't watch expecting that I will be but I enjoy the dancing and I think the dancers do a good job with the material they have. I do enjoy his take on different themes and the production side of his shows and I'm looking forward to seeing this closer at hand. I think that Matthew Bourne has done a great deal in terms of popularizing dance and it's great to see such well-attended performances at our local theatre- but- there is still a part of me that just can't quite get to grips with his popularity and the full theatre compared to recent performances by Northern Ballet (well attended but not a sell-out) and ENB when it isn't Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. He has very astutely cornered a particular market which is really interesting in itself. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I saw this with three teenagers last night. It took a while to get going and I began to wonder if we were going to see any dance at all in the first scene in the house. As my daughter said, there seemed to be endless invitations to the 'ball' (dance in the Cafe de Paris). The narrative is a bit confusing - it seems to go backwards and forwards - but, as everyone (I think) knows the Cinderella story, this doesn't really matter. There are some longueurs, to fill the Prokoviev score, but, overall, it's a very entertaining and clever production with incredible sets and lighting. The Second World War setting is inspired. The best parts of the choreography (for me) were Cinderella's dance with the mannequin which morphs into the object of her affections, Harry, the pdd in the bedroom and the dance for the 'heroes' at the Cafe de Paris. At the theatre there were large adverts for Matthew Bourne's offering for next Christmas: Swan Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I thought it was a bit muddled as well. I have to confess the music for Cinderella is not my favourite, and not having read anything about it beforehand, I was a bit miffed to find there was no live orchestra. I thought the last act seemed to go on and on and on.....I quite enjoyed most of it, but I wouldn't rush to see it again. On the other hand, his Swan Lake is one of my favourite versions, and one that I shall certainly be booking to see for about the 4th time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I'm not sure whether I shall be able to bring myself to watch it again yet: my last performance was with Jonathan Ollivier, and it's still painful 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Oh dear, Alison. Shocking thing to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 A short radio interview with Dominic North - 2 hours in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p061ydls 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 I attended the opening performance at Liverpool Empire last night and thoroughly enjoyed this different interpretation of Cinderella once again. It's been a few years since I last saw it, so it was like seeing it for the first time again. Dominic North played the dashing pilot and Ashley Shaw the lead role of Cinderella complemented by Liam Mower as the Angel. Madelaine Brennan danced Sybil, The Step Mother, and looked like she was having ball with the part! She was really good. The whole cast danced with enthusiasm and I really enjoyed all the cheeky nuances throughout. A lot of the moves are what I call typical Matthew Bourne moves - the way the dancers hold their hands and make certain gestures, but you can see classical ballet moves shining through in the movements. The pdd in Act 2 was lovely and the 40's era dances in the nightclub were great. I really enjoyed the 1940's dance that the dancers performed to end the night and it left you feeling on a high! Before that though, I was actually moved to tears at the end of Act 3 which doesn't happen very often but the acting combined with the music just hit that nerve. To top off a great night the wonderful Alan Vincent was dancing - he played 3 roles last night - Cinderella's Father, the nightclub compere/singer and a tea stallholder I was thrilled to see Alan on stage again after seeing him many times in the past - in fact he danced the Swan/Stranger the very first time I saw Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake which will be staged again later this year. The sets and costumes were good and I especially loved Cinderella's beautiful white evening gown complete with silver sequins and the Step Mothers long black dress with velvet bodice and lace top trim. I can see why some people have commented they way they have above but overall this is more of a show than a ballet. Matthew Bourne dance has it's own unique style and is like a cross between classical ballet, modern dance and Broadway style show- it's a dance fusion but it works and that is the secret of its success. My only complaint from last night was that the piped music was way too loud so my ear plugs were deployed and it was fine from then on, plus the audience was rather well behaved and not quite so munch-y and rustle-y as most times I have been to my local The Liverpool Empire! Considering I got my tickets on offer of half price (see forum Tickets section) as the production was not selling very well, I certainly got huge value for my £19.50 and from my favourite seat!! Some photos from the curtain call:- Liam Mower, Ashley Shaw, Dominic North The 3 leads again - so happy Ashley put her glamorous dress on again! Very kindly applauding the audience - here you can see Madelaine Brennan far right as well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 For anyone in the London area, this is on at the New Wimbledon Theatre this week. I was considering going - but then I looked at the ticket prices and am having second thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 I saw this at the local cinema (recorded) last night. I agree with all the "painful, muddled, dark, depressing" etc. comments above. I couldn't feel empathy for the roles - they were caricatures rather than developed characters, and mostly unnecessary and unappealing caricatures at that. Much of the choreography (when there was actual dancing) seemed more akin to Cinderella the pantomine than Cinderella the ballet. But unfunny pantomine- highly over-acted and clichéd. I couldn't get what sort of person Cinderella is meant to be in this production. I suspect this is much more the fault of the production itself, rather than Ashley Shaw, who looks very talented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherilyn Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I searched the forum to check if anyone else has seen or commented about Bourne's Cinderella but couldn't find anything. I went to the performance last night at The Kennedy Center, and I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. I really wanted to love it considering the high praises I have heard from colleagues and reviews of his other productions. If you're interested, here are some of my thoughts about the show. And I would truly appreciate reading the opinion of others, especially from those who enjoyed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I found it, and merged your post, Cherilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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