Performer: Ilya Utkin

Nadezhda Batoeva , a younger generation ballerina at the mariinsky, excels as Cinderella, in an otherwise disapointing production, performed here at BAM , New York City.

It was clever programming to bookend the Mariinsky’s three-week London residency with two Prokofiev full-length ballets – starting with its classic, but dated, 1940 Romeo and Juliet, and ending with the contemporary chic of Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella.

Prokofiev’s Cinderella is not the easiest ballet to love. In his Romeo and Juliet a timeless story and lush, action-driven score ensure that even mediocre productions are heartbreaking.