American Ballet Theatre. Prokofiev’s Cinderella. June 11, 2014.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony.  (Seat C5, $55).

Choreography by Frederick Ashton, Set and costume design by David Walker.

Conductor – Charles Barker; Cinderella – Xiomara Reyes, The Prince – Joseph Gorak, Step-sisters – Kenneth Easter and Thomas Forster, The Fairy Godmother – Devon Teuscher.

Last month I heard the New York Philharmonic perform a selection of music from Prokofiev’s Cinderella, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.  My remarks were the music was nice enough, but it was mostly flat and lacking in dramatic elements.  That encounter raised my interest in the ABT’s production.  While my interest in ballet is at best lukewarm, I was wondering if seeing the whole production would make the experience more compelling.

In two words, it did.

Actually with dancers on stage the music became mostly accompaniment.  To the extent I noticed it, the orchestra put in a great performance.  The most dramatic passage was again the clock ticking and the chimes ringing towards midnight.  With the visual effect, the music just came to life.

The Playbill contains an article on the choreography.  It was done by Ashton a short four years after Prokofiev wrote the music in 1944.   For various reasons (mostly artists’ egos, in my judgment,) this is the first time the choreography is adopted by the ABT.  To me it didn’t look dated at all.  It requires a lot of physicality from the dancers, and contains many elegant patterns and formations.

In reading over the roster, I was surprised to see that Gorak is “only” a member of the Corps de ballet (the higher categories are Principal and Soloist).  That must make him a rising star in the company.  Not that I am in any position to judge, but to me that would be well-deserved.  One could make a case he failed to nail a step here or there, but overall he was a believable prince.  That Reyes is petite (more petite than your typical ballerina) probably made all the lifting Gorak had to do easier.  The two worked well together, and the pas de deux in Act II is as “fairy-tale” as one can expect.  In addition, much athleticism is required of both dancers; in particular, Reyes had to dance around the stage, putting in about 40 spins in the process.

The roles of the step-sisters are traditionally performed by men.  As in the Rossini opera, they provide a comedic element to the story.  The Fairy Godmother is another substantial role.

The plot here hews closely to the version I am familiar with.  The exceptions would be the star fairies and the four season fairies.  I guess adding these roles make for more interesting visual effects.  And there was magic, at least attempts at it, including a beggar transforming into the Fairy Godmother and a pumpkin turning into a coach.  For Cinderella turning back into a village girl at midnight, even though we didn’t see it, we are sure they just had two people on stage at the same time.

So in the recent past I have seen Rossini’s opera Cenerentola, Jurowski’s selection for the orchestra, and the ballet as Prokofiev first imagined it.  If asked which version I prefer, my answer would be the opera.  However, as a general recommendation, I find to my surprise that I would recommend the ballet.

The lengthy New York Times review actually makes for rather interesting reading, providing a good analysis of the history, the performers (it was a different cast), as well as the reviewer’s opinion on many different aspects of the performance.  And it’s amply clear the ballet world has its very own lexicon. I couldn’t tell if the reviewer at the end enjoyed the performance, though.

Early on the day of performance, the ABT website (technically the metopera website) showed quite a few empty seats.  So we basically drove in, expecting to buy tickets at a discount at the Atrium.  ABT, unfortunately, is not in the program, so we ended up buying tickets at full price.  The performance was not well-attended at all, with over half of the seats in the balcony and the family circle unoccupied.

Anne had a class in Atlantic Highlands and we left there at 5:15 pm or so.  Traffic was heavy, we got into town close to 7 pm; I couldn’t find off-street parking so I put my car in the garage, which I hadn’t done for a while.  Anne and I shared a wrap bought at Avery Fisher, and we got some food off a street-vendor on the way back.