Cinderella, Australian Ballet, State Theatre, Wednesday June 24th 2015
We saw this new version of "Cinderella" by Alexei Ratmansky in 2013 and it is good to see it again while our memories are clear.
We were meant to have the following A cast for "Cinderella" according to the Australian Ballet website:
Wednesday 24 June, 7.30pm
Conductor: Nicolette Fraillon
Cinderella: Madeline Eastoe
Prince: Kevin Jackson
Our cast was instead:
Cinderella: Ako Kondo
Prince: Chengwu Guo
It was great to see this B Cast as they are a couple in their personal life as well. This new couple are a dream for marketing purposes, as was previous couples within the Australian Ballet.. Both are usually sensational dancers of the highest calibre.
This second viewing within two years of the original in 2013 brings some positive and negative reactions.
The comedy was not up to the standard of my first viewing. The timing was not as precise along with more defined characterisations of some characters. It felt as if some of the characters were not projecting past the front rows of the stalls.
The least enjoyable aspect was the two women (mid to late 30s) sitting in front with their three children. One would imagine that the children would be the issue. Wrong. Can you imagine one woman had the gaul to take out her mobile phone and continue to show her friend photos during the performance. Yes it is true. I leant forward and asked her "Please turn your phone off as it is very distracting." How they huffed and puffed for the rest of Act One was so distracting. I tried to watch the planets section of the ballet and they continued to chat amongst themselves.
At the first interval, I reported their inappropriate behaviour to our local usher and then proceeded to report this to the Front of House Manager. Both of the Arts Centre staff were very helpful. By the time I returned to my seat my colleague said that the usher had spoken to them.
The two women were trying to send me up with their body language by mimicking texting and their over the shoulder glares at me. It was a relief that they were vocally quiet for the remainder of the ballet after first interval.
They did not turn on their phones for Act Two. During the second interval she had the audacity to theatrically show her lurid photos making sure that we got to see herself wearing a thong and sitting with her back on an exercise ball. Obviously she was proud to show off these revealing shots for all of the men and women to see. I am curious if these women received complimentary tickets courtesy of the main sponsor of the Australian Ballet.
The staff of the sponsors of the Australian Ballet have a responsibility to represent their company in the best possible light. They should be role models and turn off their phones and not put their feet up on the seats etc.
I have advised the Australian Ballet of my concerns as the sponsors are certainly jeopardising their value for money if their staff behave in a inappropriate manner. These sponsor seats are sometimes relished and honoured as a treat to the staff. Other times the staff attend with utter disdain.
Is it a coincidence that we had another fall on stage during another mobile phone incident?
The costume designs by Jerome Kaplan are beautiful allowing the audience to view the line of the dancer's body with the flow of the fabric. Sometimes costumes do not do justice to the expense of the fabrics as the audience may not see the detailed textures of the fabrics. Here the fabrics chosen have different weights and textures which come across to the audience to highlight the different characters. I particularly like the ball room suits with their metallic fabrics.
Set designs, also by Jerome Kaplan blend and balance his beautiful costumes. I really love the backstage atmosphere of the theatre in the opening scene which is reminiscent of backstage shows like "Gypsy." His designs for the ballroom scene are exquisite and reminds me of the grandeur of Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet."
While I recall the ballroom scene the choreography of the latest dance moves section, reminds me of a combination of John Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet" with Pina Bausch's "1980" conga line. Pina Bausch uses lots of gestures in conga lines as in the film "Pina" - where they gesture the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. You may wonder how they are similar. Alexei Ratmansky has a cheeky fun, contemporary, cliquey style to the ballroom scene. Alexei Ratmansky's cliquey style juxtaposes the dance styles of Cinderella's Stepsisters and Stepmother. This section is so clever on a second viewing and is a ballet version of synchronised group dances like the Macarena, Time-warp and boot-scooting.
Cinderella's Stepsisters and Stepmother perform their embarrassing solos and the other guests politely applaud with occluded jaws and tight smiles, The choreography is not only the dance steps, it is also requires these fine dancers to work their costumes to humorous effect. Skinny Stepsister (Ingrid Gow), Dumpy Stepsister (Eloise Fryer) work well together with Cinderella's Stepmother danced by Valerie Tereshchenko. Some of the the timing of the comedic sequences was not as slick as in 2013 resulting in the original jokes were not as funny.
The Prince takes Cinderella out onto the terrace. The set and lighting design is superb with the rolling away of the pillars to reveal the terrace and the full moon rising. The hedges roll in as if the trees from Disney on Parade's "Alice in Wonderland" or as if the haunted forest from Disney on Parade's "Snow White" section. The hedges become the ticking clocks for the imminent approach of midnight is such a lovely surprise. The moon becomes the clock chiming midnight. Such a magnificent tribute to the artistry of Salvador Dali.
The pas de deux by the Prince and Cinderella was magnificent. Ako Kondo is such a superbly beautiful technician. More so, she is an artist of the highest calibre and it was such an honour to witness her in this seminal role. She nailed it particularly in this pas de deux. While Chengwu Guo is usually at the top of his game, here he had a few moments where his lifts were not so self assured. This is not a criticism as he is normally so perfect, it was wonderful to see this genius show some human frailty or struggles. They were not major issues for us as an audience, more of a surprise as he is such a perfectionist and one of the greatest male dancers I have ever seen dancing live. I am sure with more performances he will find the ease and timing of some of the lifts.
Overall the timing of the comedy was not as slick as when I saw the original staging in 2013. One of the few moments that was as funny was the hairdressers sequence at the start of Act One. This scene is a combination of the choreography, costumes and wig/props. The artistry of the performers is crucial in projecting their characterisations to the back of the theatre and maintain good technique. As the hairdressers Calvin Hannaford, Shaun Andrews and Luke Marchant admirably accomplished all of these requirements to create a funny scene with the lead female characters.
The Stepsisters and Stepmother are fun and not as nasty as in other film or stage versions. They represent a selfish group of people, yet we can see through their transparent behaviour and they are endearing in their hedonism.
The role of the Fairy Godmother danced by Lynette Wills seemed to be cut down from the original staging of 2013. Other people I spoke to had the same recollection. Though Lynette Wills danced the role well, it seemed as if there were missing moments -particularly in the interaction with Cinderella. If the role was not cut down, then the impact of the Fairy Godmother was not as theatrically memorable.
The tribute to Salvadore Dali is highlighted with the surrealist designs of the moon turning into the midnight clock and topiary trees that became timepieces. The use of the planets instead of the mice and coach is also another astrological tribute to Salvadore Dali's surrealism.
I was very keen to view the segue to the start of the planets sequence to see if it worked. Sadly our rude ladies in front pulled out their mobile phone to check their social media. Just these few seconds interrupted my viewing experience. So I look forward to seeing "Cinderella" again in the future.
I would like to see the souvenir programme include the year on page three of each edition. It does state the Melbourne dates without the year 2015. For collectors of the ballet programmes, the Artistic Director's introduction does not even mention the year. I love the photos of the planets in the programme and would love each costume to have a single photograph in future productions and programmes.
My favourite part of this performance of "Cinderella" was Ako Kondo who was framed by the ever reliable Chengwu Guo. I look forward to their partnership in future productions.
