BWW Reviews: CINDERELLA Straight-Up

Sunday, January 18th, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House swelled with anticipation for Mariinsky Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella, conducted by Valery Gergiev. In Ratmansky's hands, the tale occurred in the Russia of the 1930's and in the manner of Mikhail Zoshchenko's satirical, to-the-point storytelling. Ratmansky zoomed between micro and macro focus as he condensed the story to its core narrative. The mixing of mod and punk accents proved challenging but periodically successful for the dancers and the work. Anastasia Matvienko as Cinderella and Alexander Sergeyev as The Prince achieved their greatest moments in the delicate sensuality of a head rolling across a shoulder or standing face to face.

Ratmansky got straight to the point in each act: get ready for the ball, go to the ball, find happily-ever-after. This perspective pushed all the characters to extremes, to which the Mariinsky dancers committed. Ilya Utkivn and Yevgeny Monakhov's minimalist set achieved grandeur with its scale (movable scaffolding and a few chairs for the house, stairs for the ballroom, and two backdrops to signify a forest and urbanity). A huge tiered metal circle descended, sometimes flipped up as a clock and sometimes lit as a chandelier.

Act One opened from behind a city scape scrim. Ratmansky found jazzy undertones in Prokofiev's score with Nikolai Volkov's libretto. Clad in towels and robes, stepmother and stepsisters barreled through a rollicking chair dance. As the stepmother, Anastasia Petushkova appeared as Gwen Verndon reincarnated with her orange-red bob and Fosse-like strut. Anna Lavrinenko's presence brimmed with Betty Boop while Xenia Dubrovina had a Roxie Hart essence. Cinderella's father stumbled in briefly, depicted as an alcoholic, somewhat justifying the stepmother's frantic behavior. Stepmother and sisters hot-walked all over Cinderella in between directions from their dance instructors. In contrast to their staccato dynamic, Matvienko's Cinderella moved with liquid silkiness. Matvienko projected a pouty teenager as she dealt with her disappointments. She repeatedly fell to the ground or slung her arms as if to slap her own shadow. As she assisted a Fairy-Tramp (Lyubov Kozharskaya), the colorfully punk Four Seasons entered in a Busby Berkeley-esque display.

Certainly a dynamic choice, the ode to broadway and vaudeville remained in-process with these dancers, however. Mariinsky Ballet's technique contained its own stylizations - loose positions (number four pirouettes) and drooped wrists - that competed with the hybrid vocabulary. Ratmansky's explorations with contemporary lines in a classical idiom complicated the movement. Dancers labored through twisting port de bras and undulations. Their discomfort evident in the disparate juxtaposition of jazz into the ballet.

Act Two zoomed out briefly for an enjoyable rush of burgundy, orange, red, and yellow dresses, with kaleidoscope maneuvers of the corps de ballet. Couples emerged from and retreated to the group in restrained iterations of social dance. For instance, a very upright version of "The Twist", or the conga line, hips barely swaying. The attitudes decadent, irreverent. The dance instructors and their hapless students provided diversion until The Prince, clad in white, appeared. As The Prince, Sergeyev shone. He embraced the theatrical additions of winking, adjusting his bow-tie, and cockily brushing off his shoulder after sailing through leaps and turns. Cinderella's arrival to the ball carried a reverent quality. She stood alone, covered her face with her hands as if overwhelmed.

Matvienko and Sergeyev's most poignant motif: he stretched away from her as she bent forward, feet in parallel, in plie, her hands framing her face. He reached towards her, pulling her through her hesitation. The stillness of this moment lent gravity to their otherwise sweeping romance. The Four Seasons ushered her away just in time. All the members of the ball rushed back and forth across the stage in pursuit of The Prince in pursuit of Cinderella for comic relief.

Act Three brought Sergeyev's Prince to the forefront as he canvassed the "city" for the owner of a glittery slipper. Red backpack and all, he navigated temptations and obstacles in his search. With titillating seductions of street girls, Sergeyev brought naivete to his role, wide-eyed but determined when rebuffing sultry offers. Upon his arrival to Cinderella's home, he plopped down (unaware) on the stairs directly beneath her melancholy perch. She dropped her shoe; he joyously realized his search ended. They bounded up and down the stairs in delight, finally reunited. Again, Ratmansky's successes with these dancers came in the intimate moments; such as Sergeyev pulling himself up the scaffolding to stare into Matvienko's eyes in wonderment. Their final pas de deux took place under the stars. They collapsed to the ground in ecstasy, lying side by side.

Photo by Jack Vartoogian.

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