Cinderella, Birmingham Hippodrome - review with pictures and video
Timeless fairytale Cinderella is beautifully performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet and has the audience rapt as the story of a girl consigned to a life of drudgery eventually finds her prince.
There was a fabulous atmosphere as the audience of all ages hot-footed it to the opening night and were not disappointed.
Watch the trailer here:
The story told at the ballet to the lovely score composed by Sergei Prokofiev provides an fresh insight to the story rather than the more popular mainstream presentation of it.
The opening scene said it all and sees Cinderella, principal dancer Momoko Hirata, and her father weeping at the grave of her mother and in the shadows her stepmother and stepsisters wait in the wings to move into their lives with devastating results.
Hirata is such a fantastic ballerina and performs with such ease and flourish that she commands attention.
Its not long before we see the unpleasant stepsisters Skinny, Samara Downs, and Dumpy, Laura Purkiss, mocking and abusing poor ragged Cinderella. But the pair were very funny on stage with their antics and at times unconventional dance steps and won a rousing cheer at the end of the night.
The story moves fairly quickly to the preparations for the ball.
Hirata and Joseph Caley, as the Prince, worked well together and it was pleasing to see them convey the romance of the story some pleasing choreography and although I overheard a teenager sitting near me mutter that she found it repetitive, I thought it was just right. Who wants to be in a hurry to leave the moment when you've met your true love? The lifts were an absolute treat and attracted rounds of applause even before the end of some of the routines.
One man even even got to his feet to cheer in the packed Birmingham Hippodrome.
As a dance mom I found that I couldn't help looking at the dancers feet, I guess I was subconsciously checking for 'sickling', but the quality of the pointe work in the routines was amazing and showed the leg strength that these talented dancers need for the leaps and pirouettes required for such a top draw professional production.
The ideas for the sets were wonderful and the 'crack in time' backdrop at the palace ball as the clock struck midnight was a very clever addition to the production which runs until February 26.
