Review: ENB, Wheeldon's Cinderella-in-the-round ★★★★★

English National Ballet (ENB) has mastered the art of turning ballets meant for traditional proscenium theatres into mega in-the-round spectacles. Its current offering at the Royal Albert Hall (RAH), Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, makes the most of the hall’s space and architecture and transcends some, but not all, of its limitations.

Originally a co-production by Dutch National Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, Wheeldon’s Cinderella premiered in Amsterdam in 2012. Like Frederick Ashton’s version for The Royal Ballet, it uses Prokofiev’s score; but whereas Ashton concentrated his ballet on the central characters, Wheeldon adds a wealth of detail, back story and new characters.

So here we see Cinderella’s idyllic childhood cut short by her mother’s death; the ballet’s first wonderful flight of theatrical imagination sees the dead mother raised high by the ever-present Four Fates (another felicitous creation pointing to life's inevitability) with a flowing white cloth unfurled behind her like the wings of an angel.

Cinderella’s stepmother (Angela Wood in the cast I saw) is as vile as ever, but while one stepsister, Edwina (Emily Suzuki) takes after mama, the other, Clementine (a wonderfully goofy Julia Conway) is kind, if really silly.

Prince Guillaume (the elegant, virtuoso Francesco Gabriele Frola) has a best friend, Benjamin (the impressive Rhys Antoni Yeomans) and the duets between the two men bring a competitive energy to the performance.

There is no fairy godmother; instead, in an innovation that works particular well in this space, Cinderella (the expressive, technically impeccable ENB stalwart Erina Takahashi) communes with the spirits of the forest under a massive benign tree, and it is they, together with the colourful spirits of the seasons, that send her to the ball.

Erina Takahashi in ENB Cinderella-in-the-round. Photo: Laurent Liotardo
Act II is the ball. With the orchestra in fine form under Gavin Sutherland’s baton placed high above the arena, richly textured projections and a few props including a massive chandelier, massed ranks of dancers swirl around in intricate, eye-filling choreography.

This, like the finale of Act I where the spirits of the seasons dressed in bright colours – acid green for Spring, yellow/orange for Summer, brick for Autumn and dark blue for Winter – fill the stage to teach Cinderella how to dance, are tailor-made for this space.

What the vastness of the RAH inevitably blunts is detail and intimacy. So, for example, when the Prince disguised as a pauper visits Cinderella’s home and is kindly received by her, they sit by the hearth in one dark corner of the arena, while stepmother and stepsisters cavort centre-stage.

Much of the audience will have missed that important encounter, which establishes the first connection between Cinderella and her Prince. Some mime is lost, too.

The core of Act III is the extended love pas de deux between Cinderella and the Prince, and it’s to Takahashi and Frola’s credit that their dancing projects to the entire house.

Erina Takahashi and Francesco Gabriele Frola in ENB Cinderella-in-the-round. Photo: ASH
As an earthier parallel to their transcendental love (the ballet has its comic elements, some of which work better than others) Clementine marries Benjamin.

In what is essentially a collaborative work, a final word of praise for the technical team, most particularly Julian Crouch for his set and dazzling costumes and Daniel Brodie for his transforming projections.

Age Guidance: 8+