The ballet production of Angelina Ballerina brought the stage alive! Angelina is ecstatic as she has been invited to the Palace to perform her very first ballet. She decides to perform The Sleeping Beauty but as her fellow dancers keep disobeying how will she manage to display an outstanding performance for the Queen?
The costumes for each character were original and fun. Every mouse had a different colour theme – obviously Angelina’s was pink! Each ballet dancer wore a large head dress and a tail making it easy for the audience to believe they were real mice dancing on the stage. It was simple to identify each character, especially girls from boys, as each of the girls wore tutus whereas the boys wore either waistcoats or trousers.
Act 1 was extremely amusing when Phoebe and Henry pretended to be a ghost! The effective use of a single white sheet was most entertaining as they managed to scare many of the other characters, causing huge leaps of fear across the stage.
The magnificent dance moves performed constantly reflected the music! The glorious music by Tchaikovsky also imitated the emotions of the characters. For example, when one of the characters was being naughty, the music would grow louder whilst the character would do lots of beaten jumps and turns. The high standard of ballet was very impressive, especially for the young audience who were clearly enthralled by the dancing.
The scenery on stage varied, always keeping the audience surprised by the next splendid sight. First it was the Royal Throne – red stars sparkled everywhere! Soon all of the rehearsing mice were in Miss Lily’s studio where there was a large shining mirror at the back of the stage. In Act 2 inside the Palace were royal boxes which stood at the side of the stage ready for some of the characters to watch Angelina’s star performance. The back drop was a gorgeous painting of the Royal Palace causing some of the audience to gasp at the beautiful sight.
Overall I felt the production was superb! Life was brought to the stage and the audience really enjoyed Angelina’s star performance. It was a great success and everyone from the age of 3 upwards would love the experience of seeing such a wonderful show! It was pure mouse mania!
By Ellen Wakefield (age 14)
Ellen attended a performance at the Peacock Theatre on 2nd April 2008.
