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“Cinderella”
The Bolshoi Ballet
Opera House
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
February 21, 2007

by George Jackson
copyright ©2007, George Jackson

The story of Cinderella has tantalized poets, playwrights, composers and choreographers for centuries. It is a tale of rags to riches, but depending on how it is told, the moral varies. Is virtue rewarded or is it beauty that wins the Prince’s love? Perhaps physical beauty stands for beauty of soul. Why then is the Prince obliged to use something as physical as “whomever the slipper fits” to recognize his true love, or is that a Solomonic subterfuge? For these reasons and more, the Cinderella story isn’t simple to stage.

Music is one of the other handicaps facing choreographers. Serge Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” score is used most often. It is both literal (often prescribing action in “movie music” detail) and ambiguous (as to mood). What was Prokofiev thinking and feeling?  Are his love themes romantic or wry? Are the timbres for the Prince and Court ironic or sarcastic? Did he score nasty or funny tempi for Cinderella’s stepfamily? Perhaps, Prokofiev vented a potpourri of moods. He included quotes from other scores, not least from his own opera, “Love for Three Oranges”. Was he filching, game playing or making meaningful references? Any choreographer tackling Prokofiev’s score must sort out these issues.   

The Bolshoi’s new “Cinderella” (2006) is by Yuri Possokhov, a Ukrainian-born,
Bolshoi- trained dancer who has lived in the West for quite some time now, first as a member of the Royal Danish Ballet and then with San Francisco Ballet where he not only performed but began to choreograph. Possokhov’s major achievement is that he seems to have solved part of the musical puzzle. His ballet’s tone seems right most of the time: it is light and a little detached. Cinderella isn’t too pitiful a victim. Her spunk is apparent from the word go. Cinderella’s relatives — a pair of stepsister brats plus a self-centered stepmother — are incorrigible yet still human. The Prince is vain, bored with himself but attractive nevertheless. The Fairy Godmother is male and mortal — none other than a Prokofiev figure functions in this role. Possokhov’s version is never more pathetic than the music (that’s the blemish in Ashton’s beautiful choreography) nor is it too grotesque a caricature (like the production Alexei Ratmansky made for the Kirov Ballet before he became the Bolshoi’s director). Mild irony, sarcasm that prickles but doesn’t sting and romance on a rather realistic scale permeate Possokhov’s “Cinderella”.   

The story on stage reads easily although not everything contained in the printed scenario (by Yury Borisov after Nikolai Volkov after Charles Perrault) shows up. As for dance ideas, Possokhov has plenty. They are varied. More than a few are good. I liked the way he apportioned the classical dancing, giving innovative passages to the principals: Cinderella and the Prince. Vivid but less complex step combinations are assigned to the soloists: the quadrille of four officers accompanying the Prince, and the fairies of the four Seasons. The corps work is the choreography’s foundation and frame. If only Possokhov had developed his thematic ideas, my enjoyment would have been more than mild.

Svetlana Zakharova, Cinderella on this opening night, has changed in at least two respects: she’s a blonde now and more extrovert. Originally part of the Kirov’s long legged generation that was modeled in the image of Paris’s Sylvie Guillem (Julia Makhalina was first, then came Zakharova, Vishneva et al.), she had black pearl luster — dark hair framing a pale face, and a secretive air. Now at the Bolshoi, Zakharova is almost sunny, although I still sense a small cloud of reserve. As Cinderella, she has gumption and, of course, a gorgeous, streamlined body trained by the Kirov. She articulates so that caesuras accent the poetry of motion but do not cleave it. For example, in forward extension Zakharova’s working leg not only climbs to 6 o’clock but, trill-like, staggers the ascent.

The Prince’s part is taxing. Sergey Filin gave it dash. He came on in top gear, shifted to lower occasionally, but then back up again. As a pairing, Filin and Zakharova were able to banter. As the Seasons, Anastasia Stashkevich’s Spring had classical elegance, Anastasia Kurkova’s Summer glowed lyrically, Natalia Ossipova’s Autumn was bravura (and yet, for a few moments at the end of her variation this technician also seemed a pert little person), and elongate Nelli Kobakhidze’s Winter promised grandeur (although she still can be charmingly gawky).  Commendable characterizations came from Victor Barykin (as the Fairy Godmother = Storyteller = Prokofiev), Anastasia Vinokur and Lola Kocherkova (Stepsisters), MariaVoldina (Stepmother), Gennady Yanin (Dancing Master), Irina Zibrova (Opera Diva) and much of the rest of the cast. Anna Rebetskaya’s Blue Angel wasn’t etched enough to evoke Marlene Dietrich, but the fault was likely Possokhov’s. His mild manner didn’t work all the time and this was an instance. The conductor was Igor Dronov, and seeing his image projected during the often omitted prelude to Act 2 was fun.

Some patrons still object to a Bolshoi that isn’t big scale but, all in all, Possokhov’s modest “Cinderella” may become a historical landmark of the Ratmansky regime.

Photos (both by Marc Haegeman):
Top: Svetlana Zakharova and Barykin Viktor.
Bottom: Svetlana Zakharova, Anastasia Vinokur, Lola Kochetkova.

Volume 5, No. 9
March 5, 2007

copyright ©2007 by George Jackson
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