CINDERELLA

★★★★

Royal Opera House until May 3, live in cinemas on April 12 (roh.org.uk)

THE cavernous arched ceiling of a shadowed kitchen erupts with quicksilver lights, transforming into a stunning midnight blue night sky.

Later, these magnificent state-ofthe-art projections dish up feasts of fruits and flora before the ceiling and huge mullioned windows crack apart to reveal a vast, misty, moonlit vista. Cinderella is going to the ball.

The Royal Ballet production glimmers with fairytale wonder, led by a sublime Marianela Núñez (pictured) and Vadim Muntagirov on opening night.

Marking the 75th anniversary of Frederick Ashton’s ballet, lavish sets by Tom Pye include a spectacular three-dimensional turreted chateau backdrop and a beautiful infinite staircase soaring into the heavens. Oscar-winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne brings exquisite detailing to characters like the hunched beggar woman wreathed in tangled twigs, the statuesque Fairy Godmother gleaming in blue (a flawless Fumi Kaneko), and her four fairies who deliver a succession of fiendishly difficult solos with flair.

Their child attendants are garbed as extraordinary flowers while the stepsisters are frou frou-tulled pink, purple and green fondant fancies. Times change so we no longer have “ugly sisters”. Exuberantly played by Gary Avis and Luca Acri, Cinders’s stepsisters are selfish and graceless but not cruel or grotesque and the humour suffers for it.

Buffoonery apart, this is a subtle ballet, filled with intricate solos and complex group numbers, danced with impeccable precision.

Rare among blockbuster ballets, there’s no Grand Pas de Deux for the principals to flaunt their prowess. Instead, quiet delights abound. Walking down stairs rarely elicits gasps but Núñez almost floats down en pointe. Breathtaking.

Muntagirov wows in turn, descending another staircase with arms aloft, regally brandishing his partner overhead in glorious repose. Her incomparable finessed footwork is sublime in successive circular flickering steps and pirouettes. He seizes rare moments to showboat with muscular elegance.

Some caveats, though. Cinderella’s carriage impresses, pulled by giant mice, but I expected a more dazzling pumpkin and dress transformation.

Ashton’s uneven storytelling also sags with little real dance for the principals in Acts One or Three. I wish more character and costume boundaries had been pushed but this is still a spectacular addition to the repertoire.