Balletmet’s ‘Cinderella’ is an emotional yet uplifting production
As Balletmet Artistic Director Edwaard Liang sees it, “Cinderella” is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, simpleminded fairy tale.
The centuries-old story of a motherless girl raised in the company of malicious stepsisters and a wicked stepmother has been the subject of numerous kid-friendly interpretations, including a 1950 animated film version by Walt Disney.
But when dreaming up his own version of the story for a ballet first performed by Balletmet in 2015, Liang tried to draw out some darker currents.
“A lot of children’s fables and stories, ... are kind of intense and deep and sometimes dark,” said Liang, whose version of “Cinderella” will return to the Ohio Theatre in performances Friday through Sunday.
“(The story) is very much about family and family dynamics and heartbreak — keeping hope and wishing upon a star and having your dreams come true,” Liang said.
Balletmet’s ‘Cinderella’ an emotional production
Dancer Caitlin Valentine is one of three dancers who will appear in the title role of the young woman who finds a ticket out of her misery in the form of a Prince — and, of course, that famous pair of glass slippers. (Depending on which show you see this weekend, the role of the Prince will be performed by either Miguel Anaya or Alvin Tovstogray .)
“(Liang) gives it more of an emotional throughline than most other productions,” said Valentine, who will appear in the role on Friday and Saturday evening. Other performances will feature either Sophie Miklosovic or Carly Wheaton as Cinderella.
A prologue that Liang added to the Sergei Prokofiev-scored ballet will introduce audiences to Cinderella as a young girl (a part split by Balletmet Academy students Mallorie Hubbard and Dale Smith).
“We open up with more of (Cinderella’s) backstory about how her mom passed away, her dad passed away and how she fell into living with the stepmother and stepsisters,” Valentine said. “That whole opening scene, I think, is really moving and sets up the ballet.”
Liang felt it was important to establish the pain that is at the heart of the story.
“We have to go into the ... loss and the
heartbreak, or else the arc doesn’t make any sense,” Liang said.
Added Valentine: “(Cinderella) can be sort of a surface-level character if you don’t add emotional depth to it.”
‘Cinderella,’ of course, has a happy ending
Of course, once the ballet gets underway, there’s plenty of humor, enchantment and gorgeous dancing to keep audiences of all ages engaged. After all, this is a ballet whose principal cast members include Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Fairies, and, most significantly, a Fairy Godmother.
“We want to invite our community back into the theater,” Liang said. “And what better way to invite them (than) with a production that is family-friendly and that is big and lush? It’s a beautiful
story, and there’s a nice, happy ending.”
Keeping in mind audiences tiptoeing back into the theater, Liang made several cuts to the ballet to keep the story focused and the shows moving along.
“A big change is I cut one of the main ballroom dances (which) was quite long,” Liang said. “I also cut a scene that’s in the second act ... because it was something that I think was extraneous to tell the story.”
Not that audiences won’t be glad to be back in the Ohio Theatre, which Valentine describes as the perfect backdrop for this magical — yet emotionally involving — ballet.
“It gives it the grandness the ballet needs,” she said. “The sets, along with that beautiful theater and the vastness of it, it affects the performers. We feel that grandness, and I think it translates into how we dance.”