English National Ballet: Wheeldon’s Cinderella at Royal Albert Hall, 15-25 June 2023

[Emeralds]

5 minutes ago, PeterS said:

I can reassure you that Lorenzo Trossello was perfectly cast as Prince Guillaume and not at all overwhelmed when I saw him dance the role on Tuesday. He filled the arena with ease, grace, finesse and athleticism and I have it on good authority that he was loving having the added opportunities to let fly that the the larger ‘stage’ afforded the dancers. His characterisation of Guillaume lacked nothing, developed in harmony with the narrative, was endearing and truthful. His attention and generosity towards his Cinderella allowed her to shine too. 
I know that it’s difficult to get to see everyone dance during a run but imho you missed out on a real treat by not seeing LT and Shiori Kase. 
I also watched LT dance one of the lead Summer Spirits of Generosity alongside Eric Snyder at three performances. Again, dancing this role, LT has the technique and charisma to attract and hold one’s attention in a large arena even against a swirling background of colours and dancers.

That’s great PeterS! I wonder if the seating has anything to do with the different experiences of the show different people experienced, and whether having noise/disruptive patrons around also had a negative effect on the experience, which at least a few of our members did. (I had a few patrons with minor issues around me, but nothing as serious as those at ROH and the Coliseum; I was lucky.) I know you were all at different shows as well of course.   I try to book as a priority  whoever I think might be not around the next time (eg retirement or being a guest artist) and was right that Cojocaru, Hernandez, Kochetkova and Cirio wouldn’t be around at the next run, although would not have guessed why for all of them! June is often a difficult time for me to get time off but luckily the 21st and 24th were free. If the weather was better, I could probably have squeezed in Shiori and Lorenzo’s matinee as well as Sarah Kundi’s farewell+Ivana and Aitor in the evening. I will try to catch Lorenzo and Shiori on the next run. Thank you for your report- glad we got a third mini review from you, if belatedly! 😄

[capybara]

Goodness, there is a wide range of opinion here surrounding Trossello in particular.

 

I would just build on what @OnePigeon said about Henry Dowden. When he, as Benjamin, danced with the Prince it felt to me as if the casting was the wrong way round. 
 

Here’s to the ongoing development of both dancers.

[Emeralds]

7 minutes ago, capybara said:

Goodness, there is a wide range of opinion here surrounding Trossello in particular.

 

I would just build on what @OnePigeon said about Henry Dowden. When he, as Benjamin, danced with the Prince it felt to me as if the casting was the wrong way round. 
 

Here’s to the ongoing development of both dancers.

I’m also impressed that Henry Dowden managed to do both Fates and Benjamin - both tiring roles! I’d be very interested to see what he and Lorenzo Trossello will dance next. 

[Irmgard]

Revisiting English National Ballet's production of "Cinderella" at the Royal Albert Hall over the past two weeks has reinforced my original impression of it from the 2019 performances, that it relies heavily on spectacle and the imagination of the dancers to create their characters because Christopher Wheeldon's choreography is, for the most part, awkward and uninspired.  I longed for a really romantic pas de deux for Cinderella and her Prince befitting Prokofiev's hauntingly beautiful score, much as I longed for exquisite solos for Cinderella where she did not spend time rolling around on the floor.  I note that there have been some improvements, such as the omission of the three vying princesses and their dreadful dances in Act II, and the toning down of some of the more vulgar elements in the humour.  Expecting the audience to laugh at a one-legged girl wanting to try on the golden slipper has been modified to have her with feet that face the wrong way, something I still find offensive and would hope this is completely rethought for subsequent stagings.  At one of the performances I saw, one of the Fates, still wearing a horse's head, sat in the line-up wanting to try on the slipper, which caused the Prince or Ben to stroke its head, something which elicited far more spontaneous and warm laughter from the audience.  My gripes apart, the company delivered performances filled with energy and enthusiasm and, where the choreography allowed, some very classy dancing, all accompanied by the ENB Philharmonic on a platform suspended above the usual stage used for Proms performances, making absolute magic of Prokofiev's score, especially when under the baton of Maestro Gavin Sutherland.

 

For the 2023 opening night cast of principal characters only Katja Khaniukova remains from the opening night of 2019, playing the myopic, slightly clumsy stepsister Clementine with a heart of gold who hides both her light and her beauty under a bushel due to a lifetime of bullying by her older, beautiful but vain and spiteful sister, the magnificent Fernanda Oliveira who has a ball with the role of Edwina (no pun intended).  She is the mini-me of the even more vain and spiteful stepmother Hortense of Sarah Kundi.  All of them have added more fine details to their characters to keep us thoroughly entertained, even when at the sidelines in the ballroom scene.  Khaniukova and Oliveira who, for some unfathomable reason, have not so far been cast as Cinderella in this production, both have formidable, exquisite technique which they must hide, for the most part, to make their characters appear to be terrible dancers.  However, their beautiful footwork shines through even in the simplest of steps such as the glissade, of which there are many, and walking en pointe.  Clementine, to Edwina's fury, is actually the better dancer, which allows us to see some of Khaniukova's trademark firecracker fouetté turns until she is unceremoniously stopped by Edwina.  Kundi shines in her drunken dance with a couple of champagne glasses and her long-suffering husband.  Her final backbend is a masterpiece of control and humour (and I was very glad to be on the right side of the auditorium last night (24th) to see the priceless expression on her face before she totally collapsed).  As with my viewings in 2019, it is the love story between Clementine and Ben which runs alongside that of Cinderella and her Prince, which melted my heart, especially with Khaniukova and her Ben for this run, the charismatic and charming Ken Saruhashi with whom she has a palpable chemistry.  The moment when Clementine is left humiliated by Edwina, in a flattened heap on the ballroom floor, is touching enough but, when Ben helps her up and straightens her glasses, Khaniukova and Saruhashi make it clear by their body language as they look into each other's eyes that they have fallen in love.  Their very brief, tender pas de deux at the end of Act III, is a moment of sheer delight.  Saruhashi also gets to show off his more bravura side in the exuberant, boisterous duets with the Prince, which contain much of the best choreography.  Due to injury sustained by Emma Hawes a couple of weeks before the run, which necessitated casting changes of the principal couple for all her scheduled performances, Francesco Gabriele Frola danced the Prince on opening night and was all youthful coltishness until, disguised as a hobo, he meets and immediately falls in love with Cinderella, their tenderest moment being waltzing together on the kitchen table.  Cinderella was the exquisite Erina Takahashi and it stuns me to realise that I first saw her as Cinderella probably over twenty years ago, in Michael Corder's beautiful production, and yet she does not look a day older and dances with the technical finesse and quiet virtuosity I have always associated with her.  My favourite moment is when she runs around the auditorium in her ballgown: something deceptively simply but which she makes into a masterclass on how to run gracefully and with élan.  There follows the best coup de théâtre in the whole piece, when the four Fates plus two extras become the horses to pull her carriage, which is formed by men in black operating the carriage wheels.  Kudos to the uncredited Alexander Nuttall who is the man in black who carries Cinderella aloft in a one-handed lift around the auditorium, a feat he undertook at each performance.  Other delights in this performance were the graceful and elegant Stina Quagebeur as Queen Charlotte and the ethereally beautiful Angela Wood as Cinderella's doomed mother, as well as the extremely hard-working quartet of Fates: Fernando Carratalà Coloma, Henry Dowden, Skyler Martin and Erik Woolhouse.  At the end of this performance, we were invited to stay for the presentation by Artistic Director Designate Aaron Watkin of the 2023 People's Choice Award, which went to the very elegant Paige Bestington, and the Corps de Ballet Award, which went to Breanna Foad.  Both recipients were enthusiastically applauded by colleagues and audience alike.  The complete Emerging Dancer event will be back in 2024.

 

Saturday 17 June was a matinée full of débuts. Shiori Kase performed Cinderella in the proscenium version in 2019 but this was her début at the Albert Hall.  It was so good to see her back dancing at full strength again after injury forced her off the stage for most of this season (I was lucky enough to catch her lovely Odette/Odile in Manchester shortly before it happened).  Her lyricism and musicality always shine through everything she does, including her remarkable ability to sustain balances en pointe to the absolute end of a musical phrase but always to express an emotion rather than being a pure balancing act. Her hurt and incomprehension when being abused by her stepfamily was very touching and, again, it was the dance on the table with the Prince which stole my heart.  Her Prince was Lorenzo Trossello, making his début in the production.  He has a very attractive personality and lovely, clean technique, well matched by Henry Dowden, as Ben, in their duets together.  Making her début as Clementine, Francesca Velicu was sweet and adorably skittish, and there was a lovely chemistry between her and Dowden. Eireen Evrard and Natascha Mair had great fun with their débuts as the stepmother and Edwina respectively, with Evrard being particularly entertaining in her drunken solo. The Fates at this performance, giving sterling support to Kase, were Rentaro Nakaaki, Ken Saruhashi, Junor Souza and Erik Woolhouse, their most magical moment being when they manipulate Cinderella at the end of the Prince's search for her, so that it appears as if she is floating on air as she retrieves her golden slipper from the very high mantlepiece. In the evening, Precious Adams and Daniel McCormick received an extra performance, having made their débuts the previous afternoon.  Excellent dancers though they are, I felt they were still finding their way through the awkwardness of the choreography to be able to put their individual stamp on the characters or for there to be much chemistry between them.  Their loveliest moment was when they were dancing together on the kitchen table and I could see the beginnings of chemistry but it did not develop much more than that. It was therefore the enchanting relationship between Khaniukova's Clementine and Saruhashi's Ben which again melted my heart.  At this performance, Fabian Reimair as Cinderella's father brought a touch of real emotional depth to the performance as he grieved over the death of his wife.  Ella Zieglmeier, as the young Cinderella, was very moving in her response to him. A word of praise for Angela Wood who, having serenely floated up to heaven as Cinderella's mother, reappeared as one of the two female soloists in the Winter section of the Seasons, bringing the same serenity and elegance to the otherwise not-very-interesting choreography.

 

On 21 June, I attended another performance by Takahashi and Frola with their scheduled supporting cast, most of whom had made their débuts the previous Friday evening.  Emily Suzuki, usually a very soulful dancer, revelled in her chance to be the obnoxious Edwina while Angela Wood, as the Stepmother, proved that her character's beauty really was only skin-deep, delighting in her cruelty towards Cinderella and the Prince when he is disguised as a hobo. Her drunken dance, ably supported by Fabian Reimair as her husband, provided the comic highlight of the evening, closely followed by her demented hammering of the golden slipper onto a terrified Edwina's foot.  Rhys Antoni Yeomans, as Ben, showed off his splendid dancing skills in his duets with Frola, and Julia Conway was a suitably goofy Clementine. I found their love story cute but not involving.  It was Takahashi and Frola who provided all the heartwarming moments of the evening, not only with their beautiful dancing but also with their portrayal of young love.

 

Ivana Bueno has lived her own Cinderella story this week. She is someone whose elegance of movement I noticed immediately when she joined the corps de ballet in 2018. Two weeks ago, she went from being the understudy for Cinderella to suddenly being scheduled for two performances, due to Emma Hawes being injured.  I did not see her début, but I saw her performance on the evening of 24 June, which was truly magical.  She had a stellar cast to support her, including Aitor Arrieta as her Prince. As I have noted before, Arrieta has the wonderful ability to form instant chemistry with his ballerina and this was immediately noticeable from his first meeting with Bueno's Cinderella.  This, along with Arrieta's aristocratic bearing and elegant partnering, plus Bueno's generosity of movement, especially the glorious freedom in her upper back, made their pas de deux particularly expressive and made the choreography look better than it actually is.  There was a wonderful mixture of serenity and radiance to Bueno's Cinderella, and it is to her credit that she managed to hold the audience's attention when up against the formidable comic talents of Khaniukova and Oliveira, welcoming their third new stepsister of the run and still adding subtle details to their interpretations.  I found the caring relationship between Clementine and Cinderella particularly sweet and believable. Ken Saruhashi reprised his charming Ben, showing a wonderful rapport with Arrieta, especially in their duets, and, above all, captivating the hearts of the audience as well as his adorable Clementine as their delightful romance progressed.  Millicent Honour gave a touching portrayal of the young Cinderella, particularly in her response to Fabian Reimair as her grieving father.  He added more comic details to his relationship with his monstrous second wife, portrayed for the last time by Sarah Kundi, and the two of them had great fun during her drunken dance and its aftermath.  This was Kundi's last performance with the company in a featured role, although she danced in the Seasons segment in today's performance (25 June), as she has accepted a teaching position at the Royal Ballet's Upper School, and it was wonderful to see the company honour her as a much-loved colleague during the bows, pushing her forward to receive applause and recognition from the audience.  As a fitting ending to the evening, just after she emerged from the stage door after the show, a fireworks display suddenly erupted behind the Royal College of Music opposite, creating a party mood amongst all those of us present. 

 

Despite the disappointing choreography, it has been fun to spend so much time watching the extremely talented dancers of ENB, including all those taking part in the Seasons, ballroom and wedding scenes, as they drew in the audiences with their spirited performances and, above all, to hear Prokofiev's glorious music filling the vast space of the Albert Hall, although it is a shame that the orchestra is hidden for all of the first act. My one reservation about the Albert Hall as a venue is the fact that latecomers were allowed in, generally during Cinderella's solo in Act I and then after Act II had started, which I found rather disrespectful to the performers and to other members of the audience.  I hope it is rectified for "Swan Lake" next year - and I hope munching on popcorn in the auditorium is banned!

[capybara]

Just wondering whether readers of this thread have seen the issue raised by Matthew Paluch (see Gramilano in todays' Links). Here is a brief quote from his review:

A conversation pre-show got me thinking about ‘art as entertainment' and ‘entertainment as art', and this big – as in philosophical – subject informed the way I wanted to experience the performance… and I wonder if it should do so more often. Who is this show for? And is it working? Ballet for the masses rather than a niche audience? Can both parties be sedated? Or will one always lose out to the other? Is Wheeldon the bridge of hope?

[Scheherezade]

21 minutes ago, capybara said:

Just wondering whether readers of this thread have seen the issue raised by Matthew Paluch (see Gramilano in todays' Links). Here is a brief quote from his review:

A conversation pre-show got me thinking about ‘art as entertainment' and ‘entertainment as art', and this big – as in philosophical – subject informed the way I wanted to experience the performance… and I wonder if it should do so more often. Who is this show for? And is it working? Ballet for the masses rather than a niche audience? Can both parties be sedated? Or will one always lose out to the other? Is Wheeldon the bridge of hope?

It’s a difficult one, isn’t it? When you remove niche attendees from the equation, you are left with an audience whose exposure to dance, restricted largely to Strictly and spectacle, will view live performance as an occasional treat rather than a habit to be cultivated, with a similar attendance pattern as a West End musical or a Christmas pantomime. 

 

In terms of presentation, Wheeldon’s narrative works increasingly seem to occupy the middle ground between musical theatre and more traditional narrative ballet and it is certainly the case that he has a more highly developed sense of stagecraft than most other contemporary choreographers.
 

Whilst this, in itself, will deliver a pleasing visual experience, it has to be admitted that this is often at the expense of the fully satisfying dance content which, to my mind, lends itself to a somewhat negative response to Matthew Paluch’s question, particularly in today’s climate, where ‘niche’ inevitably becomes the sacrificial lamb on the altar of mediocrity and an across-the-board dumbing down to satisfy what is perceived as mass appeal. 
 

This isn’t, however, to say that there isn’t a place for both. There is. And, yes, it is entirely possible to enjoy both, albeit within different parameters. Wheeldon’s works could well become the bridge of hope rather than the death knell for the niche audience. It just worries me that this may well prove not to be the case. 

[Scheherezade]

Irmgard and all the other posters, have said absolutely everything that can be said about ENB’s Cinderella in the round, but I couldn’t let it go without adding my vote for Ivana Bueno’s stunning debut - she brought a lump to my throat from her first entrance at her late mother’s grave, through her pre-ball meeting with the disguised Prince Guillaume to their final, heart-warming pas de deux. 
 

Great performances from the rest of the cast too. Real camaraderie between Arrieta’s Guillaume and Sarahushi’s Benjamin, the latter bringing an appealingly nuanced edge to his parallel romance with Clementine, touchingly portrayed by the always wonderful Khaniukova; a comedic coup by way of Sarah Kundi’s monstrously scene-stealing Hortensia, with Oliveira brilliantly in character as mean girl step-sister Edwina who, in true US high school movie style, even managed to invest a must-see quality into the passive-aggressive way she played with her feet when she wasn’t the centre of attention at the ball. 
 

I’ll add a cheer, too, for the carriage transformation. A real wow moment, spectacle at its best. Not sure, though, about the four fates, who seemed to me to have escaped from Arabian Nights (not a reflection upon the wonderful dancers), nor some of the strange creatures who populated the stage from time to time. Were the lumbering ones with the enormous heads refugees from the equally baffling Il Trovatore currently doing the rounds across town in Bow Street?

 

As has been said, where this production scored was in developing Cinderella’s back story. Yes, it helped to set the scene with the death of her mother, to show a growing attraction between her and the Prince prior to that coup-de-foudre meeting at the ball and to make the step-sisters fully developed, three dimensional characters. 

 

Choreographically, however, it wasn’t helped by immediately following the sublime RB Ashton. The Wheeldon Cinderella had its own magic - the magic of spectacle, of pantomime, and, yes, it was an enjoyable evening for all the reasons set out above, but notwithstanding all of that, for me,  the choreography  - even allowing for the stand-out moments - just didn’t cut it enough for more than a single viewing. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Scheherezade

[Emeralds]

Thank you @Irmgard, for the reports of different casts, and for naming Alexander Nuttall as the cast member with the crucial and demanding task of carrying Cinderella across the vast arena for the carriage scene- a key contributor to the magic! 

 

I notice that, like their other performances in the round and for some seasons of Nutcracker, there are dancers joining the cast temporarily for the production, and in previous seasons, they would often be listed as a group under the company names on the printed programme, but there was nothing on this occasion.

 

I would like to see the list reinstated whether on the cast sheet or the printed programme, or failing that, at least on the company website production page. Plus the name of Nuttall and future performers taking on the role in Cinderella-he could be listed as “carriage partner” or something like that so as not to be a spoil the illusion. 

[FionaM]

I am still enjoying the afterglow of double show day on Saturday 24th June!
 

I really loved this version as a spectacle, unlike The Royal Ballet version.  It is refreshingly modern with its use of projections as backdrops and also onto the floor, and with fewer frills and fuss in the costumes, whilst still being rich in colour and action and with lovely classical ballet choreography, especially for the seasons and the ball waltzes.
 

I won’t bother seeing the Ashton version again.  I don’t like his unmusical solos for the fairies and really don’t like the old fashioned pantomime dames. Plus the lack of a cohesive storyline (no invitations!) and the uninventive and unconvincing supposedly ‘magic’ moments with the transitions of the fairy godmother and the pumpkin.  Not to mention the tiny clock.  This is the main crux of the story!   I think Ashton’s Cinderella is a poor cousin of the RB Sleeping Beauty and the new garish costumes don’t help.

 

I think Christopher Wheeldon has tried really hard to make his version different to the RB Ashton one which he would have grown up with (maybe even appeared in as a child and/or an adult dancer?).   So he is especially careful to not be derivative of Ashton’s beautiful ballroom pdd and solos.  
 

I like the use of the four fates in place of a fairy godmother.  They enhance and mirror Cinderella’s experiences as though they are her thoughts as well as guiding her to her destiny.  Plus solving practical staging issues with the family table.  Clever.
 

Highlights from the performances

CINDERELLA: Shiori Kase was delightful and charming and suited the character perfectly.  Ivana Bueno in the evening was very impressive indeed.  Fully immersed in her role.  I’ve never seen such an assured near debut (only her second show) in a full-length role with many ‘alone on the huge stage’ moments.  I found her mesmerising.  Truly remarkable.  
 

PRINCE GUILLAUME:  I enjoyed both Lorenzo Trossello and Aitor Arrieta.    Fabulous to have this big stage for their gorgeous jete manège.  It made me realise how restricting proscenium arch versions are for these strong dancers.  Tender approach to both their partnering.  And agree with @Irmgard on the touching waltz on the table between the disguised prince and the put-upon Cinderella.  
 

STEPMOTHER : Eileen Evrard was tremendous at the matinee.  Her acting and timing was spot on.  I thought Sarah Kundi did not project as well and wasn’t fully in the role at all times.  Though the audience applause was very warm for her individual curtain calls.  

STEPSISTERS : Fernanda Oliviera was really very mean (evening) whereas Natascha Mair managed to be a spoilt brat as well. The two sweet stepsisters Francesca Velicu and Katja Khaniukova were spontaneous and delightful. 
 

BENJAMIN : Both Ken Saruhashi (evening) and Henry Dowden (matinee) impressed with their thoughtful and fun interpretations, plus really strong connections with their Clementines. 

Amongst the other roles, Fabian impressed as always with his excellent portrayals as the King (matinee) and Father (evening).  James Streeter was also excellent as the father.  The evening show was let down by a less convincing King.  James Streeter was one of the fates at the evening show. 
 

In the seasons, Shunhei Fujiyama caught my eye in Autumn and Natascha Mair in Winter.  
 

I had no problems with latecomers or other audience distractions.  The seller of the cast lists and programmes ran out at my entrances at both shows … I had to dash round to another entrance.  And the cast list for the fates and seasons for the matinee wasn’t correct.

Edited June 26, 2023 by FionaE

[FionaM]

@Emeralds the extra dancers are listed toward the back of the programme

[Emeralds]

5 minutes ago, FionaE said:

@Emeralds the extra dancers are listed toward the back of the programme

Thanks FionaE! I have now found them (and the children and the dance schools they’re from) now after your helpful hint.....they stashed them behind the video crew, wigs and the makeup sponsor! Of course, wigs, projections, makeup, etc are important but by keeping them far away from the main company listing, it looks like they’re saying “these dancers are not as important as a wig or the video”.... oh well, grateful for small mercies and all that I suppose, but I’d prefer to see them under the list of company first artists and artists, where they previously were. A few, of course, do go on to join the company as full time artists later on. 

[Emeralds]

Really looking forward to the next run of this production of Cinderella already, even though the last one only just ended yesterday! I’d like to catch the two casts that it wasn’t possible for me to see, and am really very keen to see Eireen Everard as the Stepmother after FionaE and Irmgard’s reviews. And please, ENB, can we have Fernanda Oliveira as Cinderella in this production next - am sure she’d knock it out of the park after her excellent Edwina this month. 

[Dawnstar]

59 minutes ago, FionaE said:

@Emeralds the extra dancers are listed toward the back of the programme

 

45 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

I’d prefer to see them under the list of company first artists and artists, where they previously were.

 

I'd prefer to see them on the cast sheet, so those of us who haven't forked out for the programme (were they really £12 or did I mis-over-hear?) can still see who they were.

[alison]

Fiona mentioned the projections, which I'd rather forgotten about.  Sitting at about "3 o'clock" for my first viewing, I definitely felt I missed out quite considerably on those.  Fortunately, I was sitting at nearer "6 o'clock" for the last one, and realised just how much I'd missed the first time.  So, even if it is "in the round", you do miss quite a bit of the atmosphere if you sit too far round.

[Emeralds]

Yes, they are £12 although I thought £12+price of seats still cheaper than ROH prices +£8.50 ROH programmes 😄.

 

Just to add to something @alison was querying about the usual ‘come back before midnight’ instruction from fairy godmothers, the printed programme synopsis says that “the Fates warn Cinderella to watch the clock”, but I didn’t see them talking to her- I thought the whole point of the four Fates were that they never made eye contact with Cinderella or anybody, and didn’t talk, so that point in the synopsis could be confusing. They do mime or indicate clock hands going to midnight in their dance before the transformation scene, but that’s danced with Cinderella offstage, and in any case she doesn’t technically see them.....maybe the synopsis meant telepathically?? 😊

 

Either way, I thought Wheeldon’s approach to the midnight chimes/gongs in the music was to have the scene where the Stepmother begins to suspect she might be her stepdaughter, which coincides with the clock striking midnight, so Cinderella has to make an urgent exit at midnight before her Stepmother and Stepsisters blow her cover, as opposed to her dress and shoes transforming back to her old clothes.

 

What happens is that the Stepmother knocks into a waiter in her drunken state, Cinderella sees his tray and the glasses fall with a loud crash, and instinctively, as Cinderella is accustomed to being bullied into picking up mess from the floor at home, she bends down to help the waiter pick up his tray, her Stepmother observes that a real courtier or posh guest would never pick up a tray for a waiter at a ball, and Cinderella is the only person she knows who’d do this, so she confronts her, at which point Cinderella realises “it's time to get outta here!” and it’s also the reason why the Stepmother is bold enough to pull the mask off a lady (Cinderella) at the ball (when she arrived she was so gauche that she bowed to everyone, including Alfred and other palace staff)....it’s because she strongly suspected it was Cinderella. Thankfully she was too hungover when she got home to remember all this. 😁

 

So Wheeldon doesn’t ignore the midnight gongs in the music, and the projection does show a large clock pendulum swinging, but it looks more coincidental rather than because Cinderella is worried she’d lose her finery. 

 

Speaking of picking up the tray, there seems to be a theme of picking up items as a motif.....young Cinderella rushes to help her unwell mother pick up  her handkerchief when she drops it but her mother asks her not to (because it’s bloodstained), Edwina shoves Cinderella and makes her drop the bunch of flowers, then forces her to pick it up, and now the tray which almost causes her cover to be blown (that said, I’m sure the prince would be happy for Cinderella to be unmasked- “Oh it’s that sweet, hardworking girl who gave me food at the house with the crazy woman and two daughters! Yippee, she came to the ball!” 😊) 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Emeralds

[capybara]

1 hour ago, alison said:

Fiona mentioned the projections, which I'd rather forgotten about.  Sitting at about "3 o'clock" for my first viewing, I definitely felt I missed out quite considerably on those.  

Agree. I had to keep reminding myself to look at them. They are really impressive in terms of creating a scene or mood and do not detract from the action (as those in the RB’s Cinders tended to do).

[LinMM]

Sorry this is going back a bit in the thread now but don’t know where else to write and doesn’t need a whole new thread….. 

So I have this memory of seeing an R&J ( I’m sure was Festival Ballet) to the Tchaikovsky score. But maybe I’m now thinking it was just some sort of extract for a gala? 
I remember it because at the time I didn’t know Tchaikovsky had also written a score for R&J and was a little disappointed it wasn’t the ravishing Prokofiev score for the “balcony” pas de deux 

The music is actually quite nice but was just expecting the more dramatic Prokofiev score at the time! Have no idea why I seem to think this was connected to Ashton. 
 

Regards Wheeldon versus Ashton Cinderella! 
I have seen the Wheeldon version a few times now and don’t mind it at all( just didn’t fancy it in the round and trying to work out a decent but not too expensive seat at the RAH) but also now reacquainted with the Ashton version like that too. They are just completely different and it’s a pity were on in the same year and so close together!   I hope can be better spaced between the two Companies next time around. 
I didn’t find the solos for the fairies unmusical in Ashtons version I thought they expressed the music perfectly to be honest. I’m all for “both and” rather than “either or” regards these two Cinderellas. Both give some fun to dancers to perform in less classical roles and have some lovely touches at different points in the ballet. 
 

 

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Sorry this is going back a bit in the thread now but don’t know where else to write and doesn’t need a whole new thread….. 

So I have this memory of seeing an R&J ( I’m sure was Festival Ballet) to the Tchaikovsky score. But maybe I’m now thinking it was just some sort of extract for a gala? 
I remember it because at the time I didn’t know Tchaikovsky had also written a score for R&J and was a little disappointed it wasn’t the ravishing Prokofiev score for the “balcony” pas de deux 

The music is actually quite nice but was just expecting the more dramatic Prokofiev score at the time! Have no idea why I seem to think this was connected to Ashton. 

 

 

 

The Ashton R&J definitely used the Prokofiev score.

 

Could it have been London City Ballet that used the Tchaikovsky score?

[LinMM]

Aha I need to chat to some friends as it may well have been a different Ballet Company altogether it’s just that I used to go to Festival Ballet a lot back then! 

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

The Ashton R&J definitely used the Prokofiev score.

 

Could it have been London City Ballet that used the Tchaikovsky score?

 

Just checked, and LCB also used the Prokofiev score.

[Pas de Quatre]

The Tchaikovsky R & J is a Fantasy Overture, not a full length work. It was used quite a lot for Gala type Pas de Deux. I have a vague memory that Galina Samsova & André Prokovsky danced a version. So it could be Festival Ballet or LCB, or elsewhere if they were guests.

[alison]

Or someone using The Walk to the Paradise Garden (A Village Romeo and Juliet).

[TurningPointe]

On 21/06/2023 at 10:20, Sim said:

I really enjoyed this production last night. Very clever and imaginative.  The whole cast was on good form.  Francesca Velicu and Natasha Mair shone as the stepsisters.  I would love to see Velicu as Giselle next January; I think she is ready.  Shiori and Lorenzo were lovely and have believable chemistry. 
 

However….having seen the recent RB production numerous times, last night drove home to me once again what a choreographic genius Ashton was. 

What I am trying to understand is why a Principal such as Natasha Mair, particularly in light of Emma Hawes’ injury, was not cast as Cinderella but other dancers of lesser ranking in the Company were.  If relatively ‘junior’ dancers (not really, but you know what I mean…) were going to be cast in the leading role, then why someone like Francesca Velicu was not cast?

 

On a different point (earlier), I do not know who is making the casting decisions but both Christopher Wheeldon and Aaron Watkin were at the Albert Hall for the general rehearsal.

 

Last but not least, different choreographic versions of the same ballet are always unique and subject to individual preferences.  I find it hard to process the absence of a wicked Stepmother in Ashton’s Cinderella. The audience may feel passionately about Ashton rather than Wheeldon’s and viceversa.  My preferences are James Kudelka’s (National Ballet of Canada) and also Nureyev’s version for the Paris Opera Ballet.  Returning to Ashton’s Cinderella, the role of the Stepmother in the fairy tale is so central to Cinderella’s suffering, yet he seemed to have sacrificed the role to give the Stepsisters a higher profile. I say that respectfully, but someone has to say it.  The critics seem very quiet about it.  Incidentally, Ashton and Helpmann used to play the roles of Stepsisters in earlier stagings for the Royal Ballet.  

[LinMM]

First Pas de Quatre….yes I’m now sure I must have seen this as part of some Gala probably with LFB but will check with friends am seeing here in London on Wednesday!! 
 

Turning Pointe …yes I saw the two of them play the sisters …Ashton was the shyer one and Helpmann the more bossy one! 

I can’t remember now in the original fairytale story whether Cinderella’s father was around or it was just her step mum and her two step sisters in the house.  
It does seem odd in the Ashton version that the father seems to be so under the thumb of the stepsisters….this would make sense if the mother hadn’t died and was still living in the house. But by his account the mother who has died was obviously a kindly soul like Cinderella so where do these awful step sisters come from lol! 

Has he in fact two dead wives in Ashtons version 🤔

[alison]

1 hour ago, TurningPointe said:

Returning to Ashton’s Cinderella, the role of the Stepmother in the fairy tale is so central to Cinderella’s suffering, yet he seemed to have sacrificed the role to give the Stepsisters a higher profile. I say that respectfully, but someone has to say it.  The critics seem very quiet about it. 

 

I think we discussed this in the RB Cinderella thread.  Wasn't the reason that Prokofiev didn't include a Stepmother in his score?  If so, it's another example of what I meant by saying that (some choreographers such as) Ashton was/were constrained by the original score.

[Pas de Quatre]

Online research shows Prokovsky creating a version of R & J for LCB to the Berlioz music in 1985.

I also found the original list of roles for the first Russian production of Cinderella, the Stepmother is listed at number two straight after Cinderella herself.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Pas de Quatre

[Emeralds]

Interesting points raised by @LinMM and @alison with regards to the Prokofiev score and characters, the characters in the original story and a parallel discussion about music for Romeo and Juliet:

 

1) Did Prokofiev leave out the Stepmother in his score? Not owning a copy of the score myself and the score not yet in the public domain in the U.K.,EU, US (it is in the public domain already in NZ, China, HK), I referred to the Wikipedia entry describing Prokofiev’s Cinderella in great detail- he does include the Stepmother. The father is also included. Interesting point- he names the Stepsisters Skinny and Dumpy, and David Bintley’s version for BRB is the only one I’ve seen that sticks faithfully to Prokofiev’s names. There’s a dancing master and dance lesson in the original too. Prokofiev’s score has a Fairy Godmother, but the music Ashton used for her solo in Act 1 is from another Prokofiev work, Visions fugitives. 

 

2) Is Cinderella’s father present in the Perrault and Grimm fairy tales- he’s definitely present in the Grimm one that Wheeldon refers to for his ENB/DNB production. The Perrault one is more vague- in the story books and abridged children's versions I read ages ago, the father was always illustrated and included in the story, but when searched online for more detailed descriptions, his presence/absence is not mentioned other than to describe him as a rich man who remarried a woman with beautiful but wicked daughters of her own after the death of his first wife (Cinderella’s mother), and the Stepmother, jealous of Cinderella’s beauty and kind nature, forces her to be their servant and confiscates her clothes, forcing her to wear rags. A publication from Princeton University Press analysing both tales takes the view that the father has died, thereby giving the Stepmother the liberty to mistreat Cinderella without fear of being held to account by anyone, while the Grimm version says the father is henpecked by his controlling second wife. (But the Ashton version does look like the father is widowed twice, with the bossy Stepsister taking over the bullying role of her late mother.)

 

3) The music Tchaikovsky wrote for Romeo and Juliet is the well known Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture beloved of classical music record companies, “popular classics” programmes, and reportedly, cartoon creators! It’s only about 20 minutes long, so not useful  for a full length R&J. Ashton’s R&J for Royal Danish Ballet, later revived by Ashton at the invitation of Peter Schaufuss for London Festival Ballet (now ENB) uses the Prokofiev score (I saw it years ago with Leanne Benjamin dancing Juliet when she was with LFB/ENB). The only version using the Tchaikovsky overture I know of seems to be a semi abstract version recorded for posterity on YouTube, apparently choreographed by Vadim Pisarev (Iana Salenko’s teacher and a popular former virtuoso dancer himself, based in Donetsk, east Ukraine). Not sure how correct that info is as the video is poorly labelled but the dancers look very good. If used for a pas de deux, the music would have to be carefully edited, as it's so famous that any suboptimal splicing of it could reflect badly on the choreographer.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

Fun bit of trivia:

 

Cinderella was the ballet in which Pierina Legnani, star ballerina in Petipa’s time, first executed her trademark series of 32 fouettes and went on to insert them into Act 3 of Swan Lake when Petipa and Ivanov overhauled the ballet in 1895. Unfortunately, the score for that production of Cinderella, written by Boris Alexandrovich Fitinhoff-Schell, has now been lost, although there are a few pictures of Legnani in the role available online.

 

I couldn’t help recalling this during the first act where Wheeldon has Clementine executing a series of neat fouettes in front of Benjamin, until Edwina pushes her over. That must be why Wheeldon cast Katja Khaniukova and Shiori Kase in the role of Clementine for the first run of the arena production, both dancers who can turn very well; I did wonder why a principal like Kase was a Stepsister when I first saw the casting! Perhaps the fouettes are a tribute to Legnani, knowingly or unknowingly. 😊

[Bruce Wall]

23 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Tangential interest here - (and not worthy of a new strand but might be of interest to some BcF readers) - Former ENB dancer - now a principal alongside his wife in Munich - Yonah Acosta - stars in a new film.