Washington 'Cinderella' reviews Du in reviews Jimenez in reviews recent Washington reviews more monkeysraincoat reviews

The production was both humorous and beautiful. Scenery by North Carolina Dance Theatre lent itself well to the mood of the production. Costumes were comically right-on for the stepsisters, lavish and shimmering for the ball scenes, and ethereal and enchanting for the fairies and Garden Scene folk. And of course, Prokofiev's marvelous score speaks for itself.

Webre's Cinderella has a good deal of athleticism and schtick for some of it's characters - namely the ugly stepsisters. I have to say, for me, they were my favorites. John Goding (Ballet Master) and Richard Krocil had wonderful comic timing and even when props were dropped by mistake, they improvised nicely. Their costumes and makeup were positively garrish and their hairy chests peeking out over heaving bossoms was absolutely delightful and you couldn't help but snicker everytime you looked at them. Their faces, painted to just the right side of exaggerated ugliness, dreadful rouged cheeks and tarty red lipstick, were very expressive and I well imagine that even if you were seated in the last row of the balcony, there'd be no mistaking even the smallest nuance. I admit to finding it hard to keep my eyes off of them and probably missed a good deal of Cinderella and the Prince dancing. (By the way, Webre said that he got the idea of men playing these roles from the British).

The jester, danced by Jonathan Jordan, seemed to be the crowd favorite as he had the best choreographed part - being it was full of the leaps and turns and what not that audiences love so much. His huge round of applause at the end was indeed well deserved.

The ladies who danced the fairies of the four seasons, Kathleen Breen Combes, Brianne Bland, Morgann Rose and Laura Urgelles and the Fairy Godmother, Erin Mahoney, were all superb, as really, were all the dancers in the production.

Michele Jimenez was lovely as Cinderella, beautiful, expressive face and form, and Runqiao Du as the Prince, whom it seemed to me from my seat (unfortunately practically on the stage), was just a bit off at the start, but finished very well.

There were several young dancers from the Washington Ballet School; but most delightful of all were the little boy bumblebees. These tiny lads were barely past tyke stage and were costumed in huge, puffy, fuzzy, brightly colored bee suits with little matching caps and antennae. Part of the DanceDC outreach program of the Washington Ballet, these little tots won over everyone's heart. They came out, did their little buzzing bee dance and wobbled off the stage guided by the careful hands of the male butterflies. They were immediately brought back to take their curtain call for the evening, as it was off to bed for the lot of them - already past their bedtimes!

After the performance, Septime Webre came out and answered questions about the production and the company. I found him quite vibrant and interesting and can see why, since his taking over as Artistic Director, subscriptions for the Company have tripled. And now they can count me in that group.