One of the brightest and funniest productions the National Ballet of Canada currently owns is their staging of Cinderella, choreographed by James Kudelka towards the end of his stint as the company's Artistic Director. It's a delightful entertainment, not least because Kudelka has completely re-imagined the story in more contemporary terms. Designer David Boechler has set it appropriately in the party-mad Roaring Twenties, with sets and costumes straight out of an Erté painting. All of this is built upon one of the greatest and most undervalued of ballet scores, the masterly full-length Cinderella (Op. 87) composed by Prokofiev in 1940-1944.
Prokofiev's music gives full rein to his lyrical side, and also to his ability to depict character in music as well as events. His sweeping melodies for Cinderella in Act I combine an air of sadness with a longing, and indeed a hope, for something better. The dances for the stepsisters simply cry out for comic treatment. (This, by the way, was traditionally supplied by having one or both of the stepsisters danced by a male dancer in drag.) The waltz for the ball scene is one of the composer's finest inspirations, a memorable, sweeping theme that keeps building and becoming more and more wild until -- suddenly -- the clock strikes 12, in a hair-raising, dramatic passage full of deep, densely orchestrated bass notes. And that is only one of the many wonderful waltz tunes scattered throughout the score. The third act includes a traditional divertissement of national dances, used to suggest the Prince's search among the women of the world for the one who can wear the slipper.
One distinctive feature of the music demands comment, before I get onto the actual performance. Those wonderful waltzes are much deeper-toned than the symphonic waltzes of the Tchaikovsky ballets. The um-pah-pah rhythm in the bass is often set by tuba and trombones, and the melody frequently entrusted to cellos or violas. It's a dark colour, but it's a warm kind of dark tone, not a bleak or frightening one. And when the orchestra does feature the higher instruments, the contrast in tone is made that much more striking.
The special genius of Kudelka's production is the way that he brings a new slant to each of the traditional elements of the story. The stepmother becomes a fuddled but ingenious alcoholic. The stepsisters are not so much wicked as they are determined social climbers oblivious to all else, and their meanness towards Cinderella arises more than anything because they are completely unaware of her feelings. In this new look, the Prince becomes a man searching for an escape from his public 24-7 persona. The scene at the ball incorporates steps from such 1920s dances as the tango and the Charleston. That third-act divertissement, so often cut in other productions, here becomes an actual journey around the world (a very quick one of course!), and allows the Prince to develop his character even more as he searches for the woman who will help him become fully himself.
The comic highlights of the show mostly have to do with the choreography for the stepsisters: for the wannabe-elegant sister (Stephanie Hutchison) a whole collection of wannabe-graceful dance moves, and for the myopic stepsister (Tiffany Mosher) an endless quest to find whatever or whoever she needs to find, often without her frequently lost or stolen black rimmed glasses. The characteristic stance for both is en pointe but with legs held completely rigid. Hard to believe that two fine ballerinas could be so graceless.
The star of the show is, of course, Cinderella herself (Jillian Vanstone, making her role debut). For her, Kudelka has created extraordinarily graceful dances with a mop and broom as her partners. These are already memorable in Act 1 when she is bare-footed but even more striking in Act 3 when she dances with one pointe shoe on -- for the obvious reason! The great strength of the role is Cinderella's determination to carry on and be more fully herself, reflected in her every step and turn. And has there ever been a more glorious entrance for a dancer in any ballet company than her arrival at the ball? The pumpkin carriage descends from the flies as if it were borne below a hot-air balloon, pulled gently down by garden fairies drawing long ribbons, with Cinderella seated inside upon a luxurious couch, swathed in fur and sequins, and looking every inch a royal figure.
(One of the most delicious details of this production is the
hidden seatbelt in the pumpkin coach under all that drapery.
Think of it, a prima ballerina making an entrance
while strapped into her seat!
The mere thought of it always gives me the giggles!)
Her prince, the man so at odds with his inherited position, was Naoya Ebe (also making his role debut). For him, and for his four officers, the choreography is complicated but looks easy and natural, a Kudelka trademark. This is especially true of their intricate interwoven moves in the world tour sequence. Ebe and Vanstone made a fine couple in the ball scene, once they finally allowed their love to overcome their natural reserve and shyness towards each other.
In the difficult job of trying to keep up with those zany stepsisters, the two Hired Escorts (Keiichi Hirano and Jonathan Renna) veered hilariously between put-on good humour and not-quite-hidden despair and disgust. They, too, have very intricate choreography to navigate and made it all look "inevitable" (in these comic roles, "natural" is not quite what is wanted!).
And as a final note, character dancer Kevin Bowles made a very good thing indeed out of the comic role of the news photographer, always getting in everyone's face with his flash camera.
It's very much of a piece with the show as whole that the comedic characters made their curtain calls very much in character. For once I felt sorry for the people who galloped rudely out the exits as soon as the curtain fell on the final act -- they missed some of the best laughs of the day!
The ending of the music is fairly quiet and gentle, and this obviously suggested to Kudelka his most inspired conception: that the Prince and his Princess end the story, not in his palace as tradition would dictate, but in her kitchen garden, dancing quietly and lovingly together. She has successfully freed him from his superficial royal lifestyle for a life more honest and more real.
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