The arrival of Cinderella (Gillian Murphy) in her pumpkin coach offers a moment of elegance in this chaotic staging. (Gene Schiavone.)
She gets her prince at the end, but American Ballet Theatre’s “Cinderella” isn’t very charming.
James Kudelka’s version, which ABT’s danced since 2006, seemed heavy on satire at Tuesday’s opening night, and even a little frantic. Though he ran the National Ballet of Canada, Kudelka’s bent is more contemporary: He never seems to trust classical ballet to do the trick without extra tweaks and distortions.
The plot is the familiar one of pumpkins and
balls, but in the ballet, Cinderella’s glass slipper is a bedazzled pointe shoe. There are bold art-
deco designs, ’30s costumes and a garden of gigantic vegetables.
Cinderella’s stepmother, a towering creature with blond Marcel curls, totters about looking for booze. Her two stepsisters are the real heavies, but even they are less wicked than selfish.
The fairy godmother is an Edwardian lady, and her garden fairies give Cinderella her outfit for the ball. Off she goes, though it’s more of a garden party.
The prince, played by tall, blond David Hallberg, wears a white tie and tails, with enough sashes and medals to look like Dracula. It’s clear he’s tired of the pomp and circumstance of society life — while four officers prepare his entry to the party, he comes in without fanfare from the opposite side.
Gillian Murphy’s Cinderella gets a much better entrance, descending from the sky in a pumpkin that’s like an orange zeppelin. But both dancers have looked better than they do here. The ball was more like a traffic jam, and the duo had problems dancing on a stage overcrowded with obstacles.
The stage is so busy that you don’t know where to look, and Kudelka never gets a handle on Prokofiev’s score, which moves from sweet to stormy with little warning.
Things improve in the final act, as Hallberg’s prince leads a spirited search for the girl who fits the slipper. Meanwhile, back at home, Murphy dances a clever solo wearing just one pointe shoe.
Hallberg finds her at last and returns her other shoe, but Kudelka holds off on giving the two an expansive love duet until near the end.
This version isn’t the best “Cinderella” around (that’s the one in London by Frederick Ashton), and it’s looked sweeter than it did Tuesday. There’ll be different casts in the days to come, so there’s room to improve — and still a chance your prince will come.