The ultimate 'happily ever after': Indianapolis Ballet stages 'Cinderella,' with ISO in accompaniment

When a lesson from a well-known story is often misapplied, you know
you're dealing with a narrative that's deeply embedded in the public mind. It casts a deep shadow, and the original details dim. For instance, it's common in sports to label an organization whose strengths may have been overlooked and whose potential for achievement is hidden until triumph emerges to be labeled a "Cinderella team." 

Opressed heroine: Cinderella falls short with her family.

Never mind any metaphorical glass slipper turning up in the midst of a metaphorical prince's house-to-house search for the dainty foot it fits. Similarly, the Cinderella thus anointed does not need to have endured abuse from her family. The story doesn't fit most Cinderella teams any more than the magical slipper fits the clumsy feet of the jealous stepsisters or the housemaid's resentful stepmother in the original story. But it has the feel-good essentials that make it perennially appealing.

This weekend comes the opportunity to return to the basics of the story, given stature in a superior dance production with an adept orchestra in the pit, as Indianapolis Ballet presents "Cinderella." The version by Victoria Morgan has been a feature in Cincinnati since the start of the century. And this production carries her name above the title. It is set to Sergei Prokofiev's vivid, delightful score as played by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, with three performances conducted by Andrew Grams. 

C

Cinderella is off to a better life, away from drudgery and oppression.

Morgan's choreography is a time-tested yet modern reimagining of a story originally related by the Frenchman Charles Perrault in the late 17th century as "Cendrillon." The comedy here has been brought to the forefront, and the villainy of Cinderella's three antagonists bears the stamp of caricature. That's no distortion of the story, since the victim clearly has her eventual good fortune hinted at from the moment she offers food to a wandering beggar woman, bursting into magical savvy as the Fairy Godmother (Sierra Levin), after the household's other women give no hint of hospitality. Bad characters often please audiences when they appear ridiculous from the start.

In Friday's performance, Yoshiko Kamikusa danced the title role with the dash and lithe aplomb she has given to many of the company's productions since the late teens. From top to toe, she exuded the changing moods of the put-upon servant who dreams of a better life and eventually ascends to it via the prince's ball and the good luck of the magic slipper's recovery. 

Dogged as the character is by the most demanding curfew ever, she awaits her eventual rescue with patience. Discovering the dropped glass slipper after the step-kins' ill-fitting shenanigans, Luzemberg Santana played the prince in believable terms of idealism, elegance, and chaste yet entitled desire for a life partner. 

The pas de deux in the second act seemed to fulfill Morgan's vision of the quickly generated, sincere passion shared by the fairy-tale lovers. The mutual ardor was breathtakingly staged; the conclusive kiss conveyed the naturalness of their sealed bond. Consequently, the serenity of the final scene, with its happily-ever-after assurance and magnificent departing carriage, looked and felt authentic and truly earned.

William Patterson, often a master of comedy in IB productions, shares risibility honor with Sage Simons as the stepsisters. The pair have a wealth of amusing movement in their repertoire. The comedy is elaborate in reaching out to other genres, including martial arts, clown postures, and even a touch or two of bump-and-grind. They contrast particularly well with the balletic savoir faire of the guests in the ball scene, with Stepmother Jessica Miller only slightly less awkward, but precise in settling her daughters' squabbles. 

Comedy of a more buoyant vein comes with the mice puppets, manipulated dextrously by Olivia Baez and Claire Wright. The welcome rodents  come and go as the heroine's sole companions in her subordinate position. They're as tiny-cute as Disney animals, but not so insufferable. (Paul Applebaum plays Cinderella's father, also believably sympathetic to her plight but somewhat ineffectual as a counterweight to the stepmother).

The Stepmother has a point to make. 

The wealth of pantomime gestures and the variety of facial expressions convey much of the theatrical richness of the show. Trevor
PinterParsons and Camilo Santiesteban as the Prince's Friends were not only able dancers but his expressive allies as well, very much wishing for his success in finding the vanished cynosure of the ball. Where appropriate, as in Cinderella's foes seeking to cast blame on her, there is accusatory finger-pointing on a Sophie Cunningham level. 

The company moved with such sureness as the magic takes over (the Seasons were especially radiant) that the audience was fully enveloped in the wonders evoked by the Fairy Godmother. The Cincinnati Ballet's costumes and scenery (the latter lowered and lifted into place pristinely) naturally enhanced all the coordinated movement that makes everything about the production an enhancement of the ancient story. 

Prokofiev's music, spiky, angular and also capable of molten intensity, sounded superb in the ISO's performance Friday. The strings, during the overture and later providing a velvet backdrop for the love music, were radiant. The full orchestra had a few golden, keenly blended  moments, none more so than when the clock, as portrayed by members of the company, struck its fateful midnight chimes. The party's over, Cindy, but hold your horses: there's joy to come.

[Photos by Sonja Clark]