DANCE REVIEW: CINDERELLA
12 Nov'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 5 out of 5

TORONTO - It wasn’t even two weeks ago that kids of all ages were carving up pumpkins in a frenzied attempt to transform them into something spooky and sinister, in honour of Hallowe'en.

So, if turnabout is fair play, then considering what James Kudelka has done to pumpkins in his version of the timeless story of CINDERELLA, this marks a good time indeed for the National Ballet of Canada to re-awaken his re-imagining of the classic fairy tale. Mind you, it’s hard to imagine a time when audiences wouldn’t want to see this delightful work.

Still, as it did when the work debuted six years ago — and as it has, one suspects, in every subsequent performance — the pumpkin carriage in which Kudelka’s heroine (superbly danced once again by Sonia Rodriguez, on whom the role was created) arrives at the ball drew gasps of delight from an audience gathered at the Four Seasons for the launch of the National Ballet of Canada’s latest season.

And here too, it seems Kudelka created a perfect vehicle, for this is a work that shows the entire company to its best advantage, filled with the magic of glorious music (in this case, a score from Russian master Serge Prokofiev served up with polish by the NBOC Orchestra, under the baton of David Briskin), breathtaking sets and costumes (take a bow, David Boechler, and share it with lighting designer Christopher Dennis) and the kind of dazzling, demanding footwork that marks all of Kudelka’s dance creations.

It’s a charming evening, but despite the delight that marks every scene, there are also darker tones running throughout this somewhat modern re-telling of the classic tale. It is, of course, still the story of a young girl who finds love and hope in the arms of her Prince Charming (Guillaume Côté, delivering in spades on his early promise as a mature and superbly romantic leading man), despite the abuse heaped on her by her stepmother (Joanna Ivey), her stepsister (Tanya Howard) and her other stepsister (Rebekah Rimsay).

But while Kudelka has incorporated many of the familiar elements of the oft-told tale, he’s also given it a more contemporary twist that does nothing to diminish the magic, even while it plays up the darker, brooding elements he has found buried there as well. Cinderella’s mother, for instance, isn’t simply abusive — she dances the whole ballet it seems in an alcoholic stupor. Her pursuit of her next drink is often simultaneously hilarious and more than just a little sad, underlining as it does that in this modern age, abuse can be passive as well as aggressive.

Kudelka adds lighter moments as well, but even there, his standards remain high. So while as stepsisters No. 1 and No. 2, Howard and the delightfully irrepressible Rimsay turn in performances that suggest they just might be the first females to crack the all-male ranks of Ballet Trocodera - even they don’t get a free ride. As comically talented as these two ladies are, they have to be constantly on their guard to ensure that Etienne Lavigne and Piotr Stanczyk, cast as their long-suffering escorts, don’t upstage them and run away with the show.

And happily, even with the retirement of Victoria Bertram, the NBOC still has a wealth of character artists to bring depth to its magnificently polished corps de ballet. Lorna Geddes, Tomas Schramek and Hazaros Surmeyan all show up in delightful turns that help make the ballet even more memorable. But most of all, it’s simply a good time — so much so that patrons who make a habit of dashing for the door the minute the curtain falls might want to hang around for the curtain call.

There’s almost enough humour packed into it for another three-act comedy.