Humbled and Overwhelmed

The San Francisco Ballet is ending its two week engagement at the NY Koch Theatre with a week-long run of Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella. Many choreographers, from Frederick Ashton to Alexei Ratmansky have tried their hand at adapting Prokofiev's haunting, expressive score to the ballet stage. The well-known fairy tale also makes this ballet catnip for choreographers and ballet companies. Wheeldon's Cinderella is visually arresting and aesthetically pleasing. The sets and costumes by Julian Crouch are among the production's main attributes. Wheeldon shows himself off as a choreographer with a promising gift for narrative ballet -- his Cinderella never becomes maudlin. The production values are high -- this looks like an old-fashioned fairy tale ballet. There's even imaginative use of puppets. I saw many parents with kids.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances I've had to severely restrict the number of performances I'm able to attend of anything. I decided however to allow myself one performance in the New York City Ballet's fall season, and I chose last night's program of "Short Stories" as that one fall performance. Great pick!