Cinderella, Australian Ballet, State Theatre, Wednesday June 24th 2015

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.

The Nutcracker, Australian Ballet, State Theatre, Wednesday September 18th 2014

The Nutcracker, Australian Ballet, State Theatre, Wednesday September 18th 2014

This production of "The Nutcracker" premiered at the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1990.  The Australian Ballet premiered this production in 2007.  "The Nutcracker" provides audiences the thrill of a classical narrative ballet.  It also provides the magical opportunity for many new dancers to realise a dream to dance in "The Nutcracker."

"The Nutcracker" is an iconic narrative crowd pleaser ballet.  This version choreographed by Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov and Vincent Redmon brings such joy to many people for its spectacular sets, memorable music and clear story telling.

The magnificent sets and costumes by John F. Macfarlane provide the icing on the cake for the dancers to physically immerse themselves.

We were advised that filming was to occur at this performance.  I am sure that there will be some severe editing from this performance to cover up some technical issues.  However, I am sure that they have filmed multiple performances and will edit accordingly.

Act One focuses on the Christmas festivities with the focus on Clara receiving her Nutcracker doll which is broken by her brother, Fritz.  Clara was danced beautifully by Benedicte Bemet showing off her innocence and exquisite lines.  Fritz danced by Ethan Slocomb won the audience's hearts with his boyish cheekiness.  The audience giggled and laughed at his antics.  His facial expressions and miming carried through the theatre, while some adults miming was not as clear.

The magic of the production was marred by some minor technical issues including the silver bauble which did not stay on the tree and that a stage hand had to retrieve.  There were four dancers who could have picked up the bauble without us noticing as if were part of the action. Why didn't any of these two couples pick up the bauble and put it back on the tree?  By pretending to ignore the bauble they highlighted its presence.  They lost an opportunity to maintain the reality of the festivities and thus took us away from the fantasy. 

Later, in Act Two, during the Spanish trio, one male dancer did not manage to throw his hat off stage completely.  As the trio exited stage left, he kicked the hat off stage.  Why didn't he reach down to scoop it up as he exited?  This would have been a natural action and kept the flow of the movement.  His "soccer" kick scored a goal through the tabs and highlighted the presence of the hat as an error.

Kevin Jackson can on occasions over extend his foot pointing and curl his toes under, in contrast to standing next to the other male dancers.  It jars against the lines of the other male dancers.  He is such a fine dancer and this takes away from his majesty.

The mother's solo in Act One was danced beautifully by Ingrid Gow.  Though, it is such a wasted piece of corny choreography, as we can only see her port de bras and it is as if she is being wheeled on a "truck" and the dress follows suit. I guess her fluidity of footwork created such an even skateboard effect.

Some of the girls in the "Waltz of the Flowers" sequence need to roll through to en-pointe and to use less shoulders.  It appeared that some were "heaving" themselves onto pointe and takes away from any opportunity to look light.

Some of the aspects that I relished follow:

The characters were more well defined in Act One than when I had seen previous performances.  Some of the miming was more explicit for some characters than others.  The levels of miming needs to be consistent with all dancers.

Brett Chynoweth as Clara's dancing partner, showcased his pure technique and his strength.  I love his precision and his lines that extend into the wings.  He supported Benedicte Bemet and they danced in concert.

Another highlight included Robin Hendricks in the Arabian dance ably supported by John-Paul Idaszak, Mitchell Raynor and Cristiano Martino. The four danced in unison and created strong angular lines in their port de bras, which were missing in 'La Bayadere."  These three fine men admirably ensured that Robin Hendricks was the centre piece.

Laura Tong is such a distinctive dancer with strong features and magnificent technique and fine artistry.  Laura's Snow Fairy at the end of Act One was beautiful and she has a lightness and weightlessness is something that other dancers could learn from.  She is such a fine presence and her slip on the snow did not faze her.  Her steely technique and artistry would not be conquered.  She reminded me of some Russian prima ballerinas that I have been lucky to see in the 1970s.

The finale to Act One had two rows of  ladies in a diagonal to the upstage right corner.  Their pose in epaulment provided such a conclusive and everlasting image. The consistent lines were sheer magic.

The Rose Fairy Consorts in Act Two were danced with strength and masculinity by Rudy Hawkes, Brett Simon, Jared Wright and Brodie James. I enjoyed their unity in musicality and creating an atmosphere.

The music was played well as led by Nicolette Fraillon who seemed more theatrical, precise and emphatic in her gestures.  There was a camera in the orchestra pit.  Was her performance also to be filmed?

Some of the dancers appeared out of time on occasions, or, the choreography grated and did not lend itself to the music.  At times the choreography did not flow with the music and reminded me of poor synchronisation as in a dubbed Sunday afternoon "Epic Theatre" film.

The pas de deux with Madeleine Eastoe and Kevin Jackson was sublime.  He is a powerful man and supports her to showcase her ethereal qualities.  He has such beautiful ballon and appears to float in the air.  He is such a masculine dancer and makes Madeleine shine, shimmer and glow with his assured partnering.

Over the years, I have seen this production three times and it still bothers me that during the final transition to the main set, that the two red chairs are missing.  I understand that they will get in the way for the final curtain calls, but they could quickly be whipped off-stage by some able stage hands.  This is a minor annoyance that reeks of continuity errors in your favourite movie.

Having seen this production of "The Nutcracker" three times now, the characters have become more defined, but the production needs to overcome some technical issues that I have not seen in prior productions.