National Ballet of Canada – James Kudelka’s Cinderella

by Paula Citron.
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Cinderella
National Ballet of Canada
Choreographed by James Kudelka
Starring Sonia Rodriguez and Guillaume Côté
Four Seasons Centre
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Repeat viewings are always necessary to plumb James Kudelka’s choreographic depths. His 2004 Cinderella is back on the National Ballet’s playbill, and its brilliance is Kudelka’s mix of the poignant, the beautiful, the satiric and the downright funny. Prokofiev’s 1945 complex score has not treated choreographers kindly, but Kudelka’s triumph is merging fairytale elements with reality and psychology.

As for the superb Sonia Rodriguez as Cinderella and Guillaume Côté as the Prince, they have grown in the deep understanding of their roles. The incandescent Rodriguez absolutely captures Cinderella’s dreaming of a better life, and the sophistication she acquires through love. The prince is usually a cipher, but in Côté’s manifestation, he is sympathetic, kind, sensitive and loving, in other words, an all-round nice guy.

In short, I don’t think there is a better version of Prokofiev’s Cinderella on the planet. David Boechler’s glorious art deco sets and costumes just gild the lily.

Cinderella continues at the Four Seasons Centre until Jun. 8.