Entry posted by Charlie
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Opening night of a new production of Cindarella, a ballet with music by Prokoviev. The lead up to the night was prominent in the papers, for those of us who take notice. I think I have seen previous productions, but this was promising to be a more soviet styled appearance.
The night was enjoyable, not raining, my companion looked very stylish and she was great company. The ballet opened with a fairly traditional russian style interior of a mystical large house. Cinderella (Aschenputtel = Ashfoot) was cleaning and the stepmother and ugly sisters were clowning around. All fairly standard fare, then as the story unwound, the atmosphere changed as the fairy godmother contrived the dress with the aid of spirits of the galaxy, the sun, the moon, comets and a collection of curiously costumed characters. All splendid and the dance and music combined in excellent choreography.
In the latter part, the visual effects were amazing. The prince and his cohorts danced in front of images of a ship, a train and a car searching for the girl who's foot would fit the slipper left behind as midnight struck. The impact of midnight was really very clever and well worth seeing. The slinky spaghetti girls were a subtle erotic touch and the asian lads looked every bit as if they were straight out of a TS Bar from Bangkok!
All the time the music is excellent, not intrusive and yet sets up the mood wonderfully. The Dancers are very good. The flawless movement is really to be seen to be enjoyed.
After the show, we enjoyed supper and chatted about the performance and other matters. We are planning our own little performance over the weekend. Should be good too.
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