Cinderella – Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Choreographer: Michael Pink

Music: Sergei Prokofiev

This performance of Cinderella is the UK premiere of a ballet that was originally created by Michael Pink for Milwaukee Ballet. Pink notes that the moral of his Cinderella is one of holding on to hope regardless of circumstance. The ballet was created in 2009, and Pink notes in the programme that the earliest known written record of a Cinderella-like story is a Greek tale from over 2,000 years ago. The famous score by Sergei Prokofiev was composed in the 1940s. Pink has been in the UK for the rehearsals and restaging of the piece.

The ballet tells the traditional story of Cinderella in three acts – Act One has Cinderella going to live with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters, Act Two is the ball at the Palace where Cinderella wears her elegant gown and glass slippers to dance with the Prince and leaves one behind as she escapes at the stroke of midnight, and Act Three is the Prince’s search for the foot that fits the found glass slipper.

Pink’s Cinderella differs from the usual tale in a number of ways. Firstly, no fairy godmother watches over Cinderella and transforms her appearance so that she might attend the ball. Instead, we have the spirit of Cinderella’s dead mother, who appears a number of times during the ballet to perform the same role as the fairy godmother. In fact, the ballet begins with a very atmospheric scene as Cinderella and her father bury her mother, surrounded by what appear to be loving family, until we realise that they are the mean-hearted stepmother and sisters. Also, a variation from the usual is the introduction of Jack, a houseboy, winningly played by Harris Beattie, who helps Cinderella and acts as a conduit between the real world and the spirit world, where Cinderella’s mother watches over her. Of these two variations, the introduction of Jack is most impactful. It brings a lightness to Cinderella’s position in the household – she has someone on her side. Life seems less bleak for her.

The highlights of this performance are undoubtedly the dancing of Saeka Shirai as Cinderella, Jonathan Hanks as the Prince and Harris Beattie as Jack. Each brings truth, believability, and a naturalness to their performance and a joy and lightness to their pas de deux together. Shirai in particular seems as light and translucent as the gossamer gown that she wears to the ball. Her movements seem effortless. Hanks brings a regal elegance and beauty to his role as the Prince, and his pas de deux with Cinderella are charming. Beattie has a joyous, puppy-like exuberance as Jack and a determination to lift Cinderella’s spirits whenever they flag.

The Northern Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Daniel Parkinson, is wonderful, bringing Prokofiev’s music to life with energy, nuance and mystery.

There are two weak spots – both of which challenge the overall coherence of the piece. The first is the choice to play the two stepsisters in drag and to make their movements over-clumsy and laughable. The two dancers, Yu Wakizuka and Andrew Tomlinson, introduce an overdone pantomime element to the ballet, which jars. The meanness and cruelty of the sisters is important to portray in the story – making them ridiculous spoils their impact. Although this is a fairy story, we believe that the story and its characters are real – until the sisters start their antics. They bring the believability crashing down. Secondly, the depiction of Cinderella’s father, danced by Harry Skoupass, doesn’t fly. Traditionally, the father dies shortly after remarrying. In this production, the father remains and makes multiple ineffectual attempts to help his daughter, but is rebuffed constantly by a single finger wag or a stern look from his second wife. He is a regular presence in the production, but it’s not really clear why.

The production takes a while to get on its feet – the first third of Act One contains very little dancing and lots of head shaking, finger wagging and moving of mops and buckets – but once the real movement starts, you really are transported to Cinderella’s world.

Runs until 24 October 2026 and on tour