People who make art in historically rich genres, like classical music, increasingly wonder where the next generation of audience will come from. That's the opposite problem for Atlanta Ballet: "Family" shows, geared especially toward young girls, are a sizable part of the season. Their future ticket-buyers already flock to the theater, with a parent.
But there are artistic consequences when catering to the youngest balletomanes.
Atlanta Ballet's new production of "Cinderella," with choreography by artistic director John McFall, opened last week and runs through Valentine's Day. It is beautifully danced, stylishly produced, thoroughly winsome and nostalgic. The storybook sets and costumes, rented primarily from the Washington Ballet, are magically evocative -- the wintery, three-dimensional forest, against a twinkling night sky, captures the very essence of grand spectacle.
As with his versions of "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker," McFall's "Cinderella" follows his method of tweaking a familiar storyline while incorporating widely known choreography and widening the dance vocabulary to flatter his strong, malleable company.
There are many ways to read Charles Perrault's classic rags-to-princesshood tale. Composer Sergei Prokofiev's view, in his 1940s ballet score, is soaked in acid. Scenes hint at sarcasm and blue-note resolutions that are the opposite of satisfying. Overly aware of the target audience, perhaps, McFall played it all naively -- attuned to the music's rhythms and line but blind to its darker emotional message.
In the cast I saw, Christine Winkler was darling in the title role, a vulnerable caged bird, expressive and dreamy. She often seemed ready to break from the mold and show development (or maturity) as a character, but there were too many forces working against it.
Christian Clark, dashing as the broad-shouldered Prince, moves with understated, leading-man elegance. Their final pas de deux is entirely chaste. Clark and Winkler never move close for a consummating kiss, and when he embraces her as they sweep across the stage, she's facing the other direction, lost in her fantasy -- a young girl's fantasy -- of what romance must feel like.
At first, it seemed conductor Dan Alcott took sometimes sluggish tempos to help his orchestra navigate the score's technical demands.
That might be true, but by slowing the pace and rounding (and sentimentalizing) Prokofiev's sharp edges, the pit matched the choreography more closely in mood.
The Fairy Godmother (Kristine Necessary) appears on a poof of smoke and dazzles with her athleticism. She's accompanied by all sorts of creatures, from cute-cute bumblebees (three tiny tots) to the four seasons personified. Almost unique in the show, Rachael Van Buskirk, as the Autumn Fairy, channels Prokofiev's style in her lean, angular solo.
The adult fun was provided by the revoltingly funny stepsisters, two tall dudes in drag -- Jonah Hooper and John Welker -- who steal every scene they're in. They're flatulent, clumsy and obnoxious. Their cleverly choreographed pratfalls and ridiculous ballroom attire send up classical conventions, a total riot.
Pierre Ruhe is classical music critic of www.ArtsCriticATL.com.
Ballet review
Atlanta Ballet's "Cinderella," choreographed by John McFall. 8 p.m.
Feb. 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. Feb. 14. Cobb Energy Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway.
1-800-982-2787, www.atlantaballet.com .
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