Royal Ballet Cinderella March/April 2023

[MJW]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

What a beautiful phrase. And the Evening Standard agreed with you (in tomorrow's links)

A very positive feel good review - something sorely needed in a wet and cold day like today 🤣

[Sim]

I agree with all the plaudits above.  I still don't love the music, but can understand why others do, especially when it is played so beautifully.  Whereas the choreography is lovely (and I think Ashton got better and better as time went by), my one niggle about the ballet (not the production; the ballet) is that the narrative isn't clear enough.  Everything seems to happen in a rush.  It isn't clear how abused Cinderella really is.  It isn't clear that the sisters are excited to go to a ball at the palace where the prince is going to choose a bride (it would be great to see the invitation arrive and the reactions). They just sort of disappear off the stage.  There is almost no interaction between them and the prince; in their delusion each of them was convinced that the prince would choose her, but there is virtually no attempt to try and win him over (if any).  I am not sure why there is no stepmother in this version.  It is almost more disturbing that the father stays alive and allows his daughter to be treated in the way that she is.  Speaking of the father, his wig and glasses reminded me somewhat of the White Rabbit in Wheeldon's Alice.  

 

Aside from my own little niggles above, I love this production and look forward to the other casts I will be lucky enough to see.  

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

What a beautiful phrase. And the Evening Standard agreed with you (in tomorrow's links)

Super review in The Times as well! ☺

[jmhopton]

16 minutes ago, Sim said:

I agree with all the plaudits above.  I still don't love the music, but can understand why others do, especially when it is played so beautifully.  Whereas the choreography is lovely (and I think Ashton got better and better as time went by), my one niggle about the ballet (not the production; the ballet) is that the narrative isn't clear enough.  Everything seems to happen in a rush.  It isn't clear how abused Cinderella really is.  It isn't clear that the sisters are excited to go to a ball at the palace where the prince is going to choose a bride (it would be great to see the invitation arrive and the reactions). They just sort of disappear off the stage.  There is almost no interaction between them and the prince; in their delusion each of them was convinced that the prince would choose her, but there is virtually no attempt to try and win him over (if any).  I am not sure why there is no stepmother in this version.  It is almost more disturbing that the father stays alive and allows his daughter to be treated in the way that she is.  Speaking of the father, his wig and glasses reminded me somewhat of the White Rabbit in Wheeldon's Alice.  

 

Aside from my own little niggles above, I love this production and look forward to the other casts I will be lucky enough to see.  

Yes, I agree with you Sim (apart from the music which I do enjoy). I was watching the Alina recording recently and I too was surprised that everyone just seemed to arrive at the ball without an invitation scene. Also think there is too much Ugly Sisters and am always surprised at the lack of a stepmother. Still, really looking forward to the Saturday matinee to see some Ashton  AT LAST. Seems far too long since the fabulous triple which we still have yet to see the livestream of. Emailed Kevin over 2 weeks ago but still haven't had a reply.

[Jane S]

Please tell me that they've finally ditched Napoleon...

[MJW]

Some pictures from Andrej Uspenski (Dancersdiary)

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqUzIJhgVP7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[capybara]

12 minutes ago, Jane S said:

Please tell me that they've finally ditched Napoleon...

No, he’s still there!

[MJW]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

I agree with all the plaudits above.  I still don't love the music, but can understand why others do, especially when it is played so beautifully.  Whereas the choreography is lovely (and I think Ashton got better and better as time went by), my one niggle about the ballet (not the production; the ballet) is that the narrative isn't clear enough.  Everything seems to happen in a rush.  It isn't clear how abused Cinderella really is.  It isn't clear that the sisters are excited to go to a ball at the palace where the prince is going to choose a bride (it would be great to see the invitation arrive and the reactions). They just sort of disappear off the stage.  There is almost no interaction between them and the prince; in their delusion each of them was convinced that the prince would choose her, but there is virtually no attempt to try and win him over (if any).  I am not sure why there is no stepmother in this version.  It is almost more disturbing that the father stays alive and allows his daughter to be treated in the way that she is.  Speaking of the father, his wig and glasses reminded me somewhat of the White Rabbit in Wheeldon's Alice.  

 

Aside from my own little niggles above, I love this production and look forward to the other casts I will be lucky enough to see.  

Interesting that you should mention Alice - a lot of the hairstyles and costumes made me think of Alice. I presume the two productions don’t share the same designers?

[Guest oncnp]

Not all the "official" reviews so positive - Broadway World in particular taking issue with Núñez. 

[Lindsay]

Agree with most of the views here and I really enjoyed Cinderella.  It has been so long coming back that I had forgotten just how amazing the choreography is - the footwork in the female solos, the beautifully 'radical' (especially after seeing Beauty recently) corps work for the Stars, the fiendishly difficult Prince's variation in Act 2 (I will be very interested to see whether later casts can succeed in making it look as elegant as Vadim did).  Just seeing a lot of Ashton that I am not very familiar with was pleasure enough in itself.

 

The stepsisters were not too annoying - although I didn't find their antics as hilarious as many in the audience seemed to.  Luca Acri in particular managed to mine some pathos and was not too 'broad' in his approach to the humour.

 

And I generally liked the designs, which seemed relatively complementary and unobtrusive.  Not quite so sure about the Season Fairies costumes and hairstyles and as someone else mentioned above, they reminded me a little of those unfortunate outfits in the recent Zucchetti piece for the four women (although I think Magri faired considerably better this time as the winter fairy costume was the most flattering).

 

But all of that is nitpicking.  The main thing for me is always the quality of the music and choreography and their execution.  And on those terms this is a really welcome re-addition to the repertoire.

[Fonty]

I don't get the colour of the tutus for the fairies.  If I didn't know they were supposed to represent the 4 seasons I would be a bit baffled.  Ok, daffodil yellow for spring, and bronze for autumn, fine.  But I would always associate blue with summer, and pink doesn't automatically spring into my mind for any of the seasons.  I am sure the designer had a good reason for picking those colours, but I can't think what it should be.  

 

Also, I don't think the fairy godmother's headdress  looks that great in a close up photo.  I hope it looks a lot better on the stage? 

[BalletBoysDad]

I was mulling over this morning, slightly in the angle of the Broadway World review, if Marianella’s Cinderella was a touch ‘one note’, or very understated. But I stared to think of the consequences if different emotions were on display. We see and feel her yearn for her mother, and we see and feel her yearn for the memories of her time at the ball, but the rest of the time she appeared in a state of kind content. She seemed bemused by her awful sisters rather than a victim of them. She seemed to have a contentment with her life and circumstances that never invoked self-pity, and it appeared her only disappointment of not going to the ball is that she longed to dance with a real human, regardless of the status of the ball itself. Had she appeared overly sad or distressed with her existence, or overly abused/tormented by her sisters, I imagine it would have steered the narrative to her being ‘saved’ by the prince, which would have probably totally rewritten the personality and character of the Cinderella Ashton had in mind.  Maybe this is why Ashton chose not to have a cruel stepmother? 

[emmarose]

I'm distinctly worried about the few comparisons to the Prima costumes, I was one of the ones who absolutely hated them (and I don't use that word lightly).

[emmarose]

6 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I don't get the colour of the tutus for the fairies.  If I didn't know they were supposed to represent the 4 seasons I would be a bit baffled.  Ok, daffodil yellow for spring, and bronze for autumn, fine.  But I would always associate blue with summer, and pink doesn't automatically spring into my mind for any of the seasons.  I am sure the designer had a good reason for picking those colours, but I can't think what it should be.  

 

Also, I don't think the fairy godmother's headdress  looks that great in a close up photo.  I hope it looks a lot better on the stage? 

 

I was wondering about the colours, I had to look at the cast list to see which ballerina was which season because I couldn't place them.

[Fonty]

10 minutes ago, emmarose said:

I'm distinctly worried about the few comparisons to the Prima costumes, I was one of the ones who absolutely hated them (and I don't use that word lightly).

 

Me too.  I loathed, hated and detested them.  They were absolutely awful, and were a total distraction from the movement.  At least these fairy costumes do look like lovely tutus.  

[San Perregrino]

A very pleasant evening of beautifully danced subtle and, at times, complex choreography that takes the RB back to its ballet origins.

 

Personally, I’d have liked this revamp to have been seen as an opportunity for a little less of the step-sisters and for more to be added to the Prince’s and other male roles to use the depth of talent that is in the company. But, this ‘wish’ unheard, by the Fairy Godmother, whilst it might have added additional layers to the production doesn’t detract from what we were given. 

[LinMM]

Judging only from the photos I’ve seen both here and on Facebook the fairy costumes are not quite so gross as the Prima ones which had both colour and design issues! These are just tutus but whether you like the colours or not will be a matter of personal taste. They don’t look too bad to me as representative of the seasons though the pink is a bit bright I suppose. I guess Pink was chosen for summer as symbol of pink roses and other summer flowers? Blue is often chosen to represent a cold colour therefore winter although some blues are warm as well… the blue in the costume piccies is not particularly icy! 

[Mary]

In the theatre, and with the lighting, spring was actually green and yellow and I can't think what would look more spring-like:  with the music and choreography, it was a vision of Spring, danced with sprighly aplomb by Anna-Rose O'Sullivan. Winter was an icy white-blue  and again I thought the theatrical presentation made it entirely clear this was Winter. For summer, the costume was actually red and yellow and accompanied by the projection of roses growing all round the stage which beautifully reminded me of the David Austin stand at the  Chelsea Flower Show! Melissa Hamilton made a luscious summer fairy.

There were things I didn't entirely like last night but  I felt the four seasons fairies sequence worked very well and the costumes were appropriate.

 

[Lindsay]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

Judging only from the photos I’ve seen both here and on Facebook the fairy costumes are not quite so gross as the Prima ones which had both colour and design issues! These are just tutus but whether you like the colours or not will be a matter of personal taste. They don’t look too bad to me as representative of the seasons though the pink is a bit bright I suppose. I guess Pink was chosen for summer as symbol of pink roses and other summer flowers? Blue is often chosen to represent a cold colour therefore winter although some blues are warm as well… the blue in the costume piccies is not particularly icy! 

I think (at least for me) it is not the tutus worn by the fairies in Acts 2 and 3 but the dresses they wore to dance their variations in Act 1 which were the "issue".  But they were not as bad as the Prima designs!

 

[emmarose]

8 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Me too.  I loathed, hated and detested them.  They were absolutely awful, and were a total distraction from the movement.  At least these fairy costumes do look like lovely tutus.  

 

They were some of the very worst costumes I've ever seen, looked like the cheap dancing catalogue's worst, and I have to say it was quite the talent to make those gorgeous ballerinas look unflattering in anything, but they managed it with them.

 

Yes, they did look very pretty.

[gdallas]

I thought the production was lovely. I enjoyed the new tech, including the lighting. It was by no means intrusive, just a bit fresher. Good stuff.
The costumes were mostly beautiful, from where I was sitting in the amphitheatre. The Sisters well hmm. I quite liked the Molly Goddard outfit, but I guess they are supposed to look daft. 
One interesting thing for me was that I’ve been listening to the music for a few weeks. It is much less familiar to me than many big ballet scores and some of it is quite challenging. But, in the theatre, with dancers on stage, I found it much much more approachable and enjoyable. The orchestra was excellent. 
I am not an expert but I really, really enjoyed the Ashton choreography, so refreshing and somehow modern, though of course it isn’t really. Great to see. 
I would like to see different casts. Of course VM and MN are wonderful, and I thought they were absolutely gorgeous to watch. But…. There’s a a slight sense for me, when Cinderella arrives and meets the Prince of  “ oh hi Vadim it’s always a pleasure to dance with you”. They have a great rapport and are a pleasure to watch, a real pleasure. But they  are SO good and so good with each other, and so familiar. I don’t know,  it just wasn’t quite surprising enough? 

But this ballet is quite low key, in terms of plot, isn’t it? No peril,  no conflict. Cinders is amused by her sisters, not really too bothered by them. Not a complaint, just my opinion. 
 

Finally, the Sisters. I wonder if this was a little too much of a good thing. They rather dominate Act 1 and I enjoyed Act 2 much more when they were off stage. I will be very interested to see the roles danced by women. If nothing else it will lay the ghost of Dick Emery who I thought I glimpsed once or twice. 
 

it was a fabulous evening.  Lovely to look at, beautiful dancing, and stars! 
 

(and the Paul Hamlyn hall was laid for a big banquet afterwards which looked absolutely fabulous. I’d love to hear what that was like )

 

 

[Blossom]

Love the reviews so far. It sounds like this is a perfect ballet to take children to - I am sure they would enjoy the pantomime antics.

[LinMM]

Will be able to fully take in the costumes tomorrow when go for first trip to Cinderella! 

[zxDaveM]

46 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I don't get the colour of the tutus for the fairies.  If I didn't know they were supposed to represent the 4 seasons I would be a bit baffled.  Ok, daffodil yellow for spring, and bronze for autumn, fine.  But I would always associate blue with summer, and pink doesn't automatically spring into my mind for any of the seasons.  I am sure the designer had a good reason for picking those colours, but I can't think what it should be.  

 

 

Blue is a cold colour - the colour of snow and ice in low light

Pink would be the colour of summer roses (and long, drawn out sunsets late into the evening)

Yellow, the fresh start of the greening up of plants as they emerge from winter buds

And as you say, bronze for autumn leaves

[Tango Dancer]

23 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Blue is a cold colour - the colour of snow and ice in low light

Pink would be the colour of summer roses (and long, drawn out sunsets late into the evening)

Yellow, the fresh start of the greening up of plants as they emerge from winter buds

And as you say, bronze for autumn leaves

 

Yes, I always think winter is blue because snow often looks blue and a snowy sky always looks light blue.  I can also see pink making sense for summer because a lot of summer flowers are pink.  

 

I've not seen the show yet but I was the Opera House last night for my ballet class and I saw Fumi with her crown on heading from the practice room to get changed and it looked really stunning close up, sparkly and quite heavy looking.  She's really beautiful in close up (I've only ever seen her from the back of the amphitheatre) and has such a lovely smile.  

[Candleque]

2 hours ago, Sim said:

I am not sure why there is no stepmother in this version.  It is almost more disturbing that the father stays alive and allows his daughter to be treated in the way that she is. 

Totally agree. Have been trying to avoid analysing fairy tale plots too closely, but actually changing a classic story to remove the villain just doesn't make any sense. Better to remove the father altogether imo — although I would hate for the step-sisters to have even more stage time. I'm NOT a panto fan, so got bored very quickly by their antics, even as I admire the brilliant dancers. Gary Avis is alway amazing. And Luca Acri looked like he was having a ball. For me, I kept thinking how great he'd be as the jester or even the prince. (Casting a dancer in their prime as a slapstick step-sister isn't a choice I'd have made, but hey I am confused quite often with casting decisions ;-))

The dance with the broom is iconic, so a thrill to see it live. I was so happy to see the fairies finally show up (and take the spotlight off the step-sisters) that I enjoyed their costumes, little pages, everything, including of course their beautiful dancing. Luxury casting ftw. Agree with everyone above about the Disney-ness of other costumes. Loved the sets and effects and the modern sparkle the light show adds without infringing on the dancing.

I really applaud the Royal Ballet for bringing this back. Niggles are the choreo for the Corps didn't wow me. (Apologies to Ashton super fans.) Nothing stayed with me, like say a Swan Lake or other big production. The ballroom dresses felt like a missed design opportunity, as they just looked like 1950's prom dresses in my eyes. But certainly serviceable. Including the rehearsal, I saw the show both from the amphitheatre (great view for scenes with the whole company) and the stalls. Wanted the ballroom couples just hanging on the sidelines to join in to fill the stage and make some magic.

The bewitchment for me happened whenever Cinderella was on stage. Congrats to Marianela Núñez 💖 Very much her show, with Vadim's Prince always a brilliant partner. And the jester. LOVED seeing Taisuke Nakao shine. Am seeing three of the other casts and cannot wait to see who gets the play this plum part. My own Ashton fandom centers around the virtuoso ballet dancing. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd fast forward the panto parts and replay the pas de deux and solos over and over. 

[emmarose]

3 hours ago, Sim said:

I am not sure why there is no stepmother in this version.  It is almost more disturbing that the father stays alive and allows his daughter to be treated in the way that she is. 

 

I was wondering this myself from the cast sheets and photos, to have Cinderella dressed in rags and serving the all while they all go off to balls makes it even crueller in a way.

[San Perregrino]

2 hours ago, PeterS said:

A very pleasant evening of beautifully danced subtle and, at times, complex choreography that takes the RB back to its ballet origins.

 

Personally, I’d have liked this revamp to have been seen as an opportunity for a little less of the step-sisters and for more to be added to the Prince’s and other male roles to use the depth of talent that is in the company. But, this ‘wish’ unheard, by the Fairy Godmother, whilst it might have added additional layers to the production doesn’t detract from what we were given. 

 

 

ps Dressing up turned out to be a lot of fun last night and certainly added to the sense of occasion.  The ROH being a magnet for creative brains meant that 'Black Tie' was widely interpreted which added to the fairy tale aspect of the evening.

[Fonty]

1 hour ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Blue is a cold colour - the colour of snow and ice in low light

Pink would be the colour of summer roses (and long, drawn out sunsets late into the evening)

Yellow, the fresh start of the greening up of plants as they emerge from winter buds

And as you say, bronze for autumn leaves

 

Yes, I got the thinking behind the outfits.  While I assumed that pink roses was behind the idea of the summer fairy, again it wouldn't have been the first colour I would associate with summer.  Meanwhile, the blue in the photo looks a very strong, summery blue to me, more the colour of sunny skies than glaciers.  However, I am sure they look different under the stage lights.  

[MJW]

Link to tonight‘s cast sheet 

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/40/cinderella-by-frederick-ashton/cast-list/51593

I’ll be very interested to know people think of tonight’s cast as I am booked for the same cast Saturday evening and need to make a decision whether to go or not; it’s just a stalls circle standing and only really booked to see what the view is like!

[Fonty]

It's Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae.    Good enough for me, I'll take the ticket if you don't want it....

[Sim]

Well according to Mark Monahan in the Telegraph review it seems that the only person on Earth who can dance Ashton (or indeed anything else, judging from his past mentions) is Francesca Hayward....

[capybara]

33 minutes ago, Sim said:

Well according to Mark Monahan in the Telegraph review it seems that the only person Earth who can dance Ashton (or indeed anything else) is Francesca Hayward....

How completely typical that is. Especially when he hasn't seen her dance Cinderella, it borders on unkindness to other RB dancers.

He needs to go to Specsavers !!!!!

And if, as appears to be the case recently, he books mainly for Hayward's shows, how does he know????

 

[Of course, I mean no offence to Francesca, who is a lovely dancer - but really........!!!!!]