Birmingham Royal Ballet: Cinderella – The Lowry, Salford

Music: Sergei Prokofiev

Choreographer: David Bintley

Conductor: Paul Murphy

There are times when all theatre needs to be is beautiful. Birmingham Royal Ballet have revived their 2021 production of Cinderella at just such a time. We know the story, we like what it stands for, the good guys win.

It’s hard to imagine a more traditional offering. This Cinderella does all the things you might expect, it’s lavish and magical. It has a huge cast, striking costumes and vast sets. There’s romance and comedy, and there’s Prokofiev’s glorious score played by a huge orchestra.

Cinderella, her step-mother and step-sisters live in a rambling old house. In the kitchen Cinderella (Beatrice Parma) spends most of her time cooking and cleaning, and the rest dreaming of a better life. Parma is slight and, in the early scenes seems child-like. When she’s bullied by her hideous step-sisters (Ellis Small and Olivia Chang Clarke) it seems hopeless to try to fight back. As the story moves on we see her seem to grow in stature, an extraordinary physical transformation that embodies the story’s important message about decency and doing what’s right.

Ellis Small and Olivia Chang Clarke deliver brilliantly comedic performances as her tormentors. One is gangly and spiky, the other sullen and slovenly. They could easily inhabit a Tim Burton film. Their ungainly, show-offy dancing is hilarious and all their appearances create a perfect balance with the more serious business of the Prince and Cinderella’s whirlwind romance.

While he’s obviously a catch, the Prince (Enrique Bejarano Vidal) is a bit of a one-note character. Bejarano Vidal makes up for the lack of his character’s charisma with some extraordinary moves, with high leaping solos and powerful duets. The closing one, backed by the ensemble of female dancers and bathed in golden light, and the final backlit image of Cinderella and the Prince, is a thing of extraordinary beauty.

Lighting (by Peter Teigen and revived for this production by David Finn) plays a big part throughout this production, from the light streaming through the kitchen window in the first scene, to the twilight and sunlight of the later ones. It is at its best when the set is minimal – a huge rising sun and a star filled galaxy create more of a magical, fairy-tale backdrop to the action than the heavier three- dimensional sets which feel a little overbearing. The production suffers from the logistics of moving these, with two lengthy intervals and occasional curtain lowering and rising to facilitate changes. It’s jarring and makes the production over-long. The costumes though, designed by John Macfarlane, are wonderful. A palette of blacks, dark reds, purples and blues set against glittering silver and white. Swirling tailcoats and feather light skirts make the ball scene particularly mesmerising.

While the principal dancers all deliver wonderful performances, this ballet would be nothing without a tremendously strong ensemble and lots of minor characters that brilliantly populate the story, despite brief appearances – the Frog Coachman (Tom Hazelby) and Lizard Footmen (Mason King and Marlo Kempsey-Fagg) whose authentic, yet comic, amphibian moves are beautifully realised, and the violinists in the dance lesson scene (Philip Aird and Robert Simmons) who bring the music out of the orchestra pit and on to the stage.

Cinderella is sure to delight anyone who loves traditional ballet, and would be a fantastic and memorable introduction for children. It tours to Sunderland, Bristol and Plymouth after its short run in Salford.

Runs until 8 March 2025