The Australian Ballet: Cinderella -
State Theatre, Melbourne, 17 September -
There is no definitive version of Cinderella. Maybe this makes it easier to produce a reworking which is fresh and triumphantly successful in its own right. All too often reworked classics pull up far short of the “original” versions but this is certainly not the case here. Ratmansky's Cinderella is simply the best original full-length work the company has presented in a while.
Ratmansky has gone back to Prokofiev's score - the very full version - and meticulously translated the music into inventive, expressive and musical classical dance. Ratmansky utilises a complete classical vocabulary with a greater variety of classical steps than is currently usual, integrating contemporary movement when he needs it. And he always uses movement to tell a story. Mastering pathos, comedy and creating entertaining and beautiful classical story ballets of which audiences cannot get enough, it is no wonder that he is hugely in demand.
This Cinderella is a winner from the start with magic and pathos in plenty. The heroine lives in Russian émigré poverty, her only solace the portrait of her dead mother. The role fitted Leanne Stojmenov like a glove - or rather, a beautiful dress. This is not a ballet that lends itself to plumbing depths of character but Stojmenov captured a touching mix of pathos, hope, despair and sweet goodness. Her Russian training accentuated in this role, Stojmenov impressed with her focus on upper body and arms, her soft feet, lightness, speed and strength.
Ratmansky has a great gift for comedy and the ghastly trio of Stepmother and Stepsisters is a natural outlet for it. Amy Harris as the Stepmother was in danger of stealing the show on several occasions, not least in her tantrum turn in the first act. Halaina Hills and Ingrid Gow relished their roles as Dumpy and Skinny while the Dance Teacher (Ben Davis) was one of several deft characterisations in a cast of well drawn characters.
The Ball scene was worthy of Hollywood with Amy Harris's sheer energy and exuberant acting again carrying the day.
Daniel Gaudiello as the Prince is given a star entrance with flying jetés and flawless sixes. Cinderella's entrance in her glamorous gown offers the perfect contrast in mood and femininity, everything understated in a display of the character's innate delicacy and modesty. A series of beautifully choreographed pas de deux traces the burgeoning relationship between the two, culminating in the big lifts of the last before the clock finally runs down. Nuances in the choreography, its fleeting feelings and images, follow the nuances in the stop-start musical phrasing.
There are only a couple of reservations - the planets and stars sequence, which replaces the seasons, is only moderately successful. It does, however, provide the opportunity for many solos and variations, which play to individual dancers' strengths, most notably Chengwu Guo as Mercury and Laura Tong as Venus. This is also one of the few scenes in which the costumes are not totally successful, some looking rather too much like Dumpy. An interesting concept but pumpkins and animal helpers were missed!
Likewise the Prince's travels in search of Cinderella worked best in terms of providing some more dance display opportunities for the excellent Daniel Gaudiello and cameos for Vivienne Wong and Jacob Sofer, but seem on the long side for maintaining momentum.
But those are minor quibbles in what is really a triumphant addition to the repertoire for the Australian Ballet. Sets and costumes by Jérôme Kaplan, reminiscent at times of the daring designs of the Ballets Russes, were consistently inventive, ranging from excellent realism to surrealist fantasy - the topiary shrubs transforming into metronomes counting down the clock and hounding Cinderella a particularly felicitous invention.
Also noticeable was the freedom which principals and the entire company danced with, all looking very polished in style and beautifully rehearsed.
In the end the last act seems to oscillate between real drama and operetta, as if undecided which way to go. The balance between comedy and pathos is a hard one to find and to maintain and on the whole Ratmansky gets it just right, though the comic moments were beginning to wear slightly thin by the very end. But as Cinderella dons the dress and stops being invisible magic is restored in a romantic dreamy pas de deux as the lovers are reunited and, however fleetingly, good triumphs and proper order is restored.
- Irina Kuzminsky