As it should be, there are no star ratings for a children’s ballet but, that aside, I would certainly give London Children’s Ballet a “high-five” for the maturity, professionalism and outstanding production values that this pop-up company has delivered year-after-year, since 1994. At a time when major companies perform with recorded music, LCB continues to keep up its tradition of commissioning a new score, played live by a large orchestra, more of which later.
After last year’s third revival of The Secret Garden, this year’s production was a new addition to the LCB repertoire with Kristen McNally’s detailed interpretation of Shirley Hughes’ picture book story, Ella’s Big Chance, which was subtitled for its American publication as “A Jazz-Age Cinderella”, an addendum that LCB has re-used in Ruth Brill’s adapted scenario from Hughes’ story. Brill, incidentally an outstanding choreographer in her own right, is now LCB's artistic director, having danced with the company herself as a child.
It is Cinderella, but not as we know it. The domestic setting has been altered from an impoverished aristocratic household to a dress shop run by Mr Cinders (Corin Baylay-Bell, 14) with the help of his daughter, Ella (Gina Harris-Sullivan, 15) and a helpful young man, Buttons (Toby Gray, 15). True to the original tale, Mr Cinders marries a domineering woman, Madame Renée (Georgia McBride, 14), who takes charge of the shop with the aid of her two audacious daughters, Pearl (Ailsa Levy, 15) and Ruby (Mbayang Ndiaye, 14). The maturity of these performers was remarkable given their youth!
The story ran its normal course, although instead of a Prince, the grand ball is given by the Duchess of Arc (Chloe Mackintosh, 14) in honour of her son, the Duke (Jude Illing, 15, shortly to join ENB School), who in typical fashion falls for the mysterious, beautiful guest and finds her glass slipper when she flees at midnight. The twist in Hughes’ utilitarian tale is that when the slipper fits Ella’s foot and the Duke proposes, she demurely turns the aristo down, professing her love for the dutiful Buttons.
Having cut his teeth on Gavin McCaig’s Pinocchio for Northern Ballet, Ian Stephens’ jazz-age score is his first full-length ballet, and it has an infectious charm, excellently performed by the 24-strong orchestra, conducted by LCB Music Director, Philip Hesketh, now in his 28th year in the role. The jazz themes were performed with appropriate pizzaz by the whole ensemble but none more so than by the outstanding flapper girl (Eve Schwartz, 13).
The set and costume designs of Carrie-Ann Stein captured the modern revisions of the tale and her vision of both the dress shop, and the grand ball created just the right impression for imagination to take root. Ella’s surprising but beautiful black dress embellished with a criss-cross of sparkling silver patterns was appropriately a costume highlight. The young men’s Panama hats at the ball seemed a little incongruous and, for some of the younger guests, a little on the large side! Kudos to the effectiveness of Mark Jonathan’s lighting design.
McNally’s choreography was suitably challenging for these young dancers, providing motif themes to suit each character: I particularly liked the perky movement and pointy feet of the Postman (an excellent cameo by Illia Bondarenko, remarkably mature for a 12-year-old). McNally's work for the large ensemble was well structured and the ball scene was a triumph, with the timid aloofness of the Duke, contrasting with the over-familiarity of Madame Renée and her daughters.
In the title role, Harris-Sullivan was rarely off-stage from beginning to end and she essayed Ella’s charm and goodness with the necessary panache. As Buttons, Gray had an ebullient cheekiness and a decent ballet technique to go with it! Levy and Ndiaye created humour in their roles as the stepsisters, also coupled with impressive dancing. Frankly, I’d like to name all 51 dancers because they deserve it, but I particularly noted Dilara Malik (13) first as the florist in the opening scene and then as a ball guest; and Theana Amolo (12) as an impressive cat with her three kittens (Alexa Williams, 10, Nevaeh Green, 11, and Poppy Hawkins, also 10). I could easily see her dancing the same role in The Sleeping Beauty!
LCB is rightly proud of its talent-spotting and career-development credentials. It is remarkable how many of its alumni progress into ballet or other show business careers. Royal Ballet principal, Anna Rose O’Sullivan, danced with the company, aged 9, as the lead in The Little Princess and is now an LCB Patron. The programme featured a “where are they now” report from the 2014 cohort (Nanny McPhee) and several of those children are now professional dancers, including New Adventures’ James Lovell and Lawrence Elliott at Polish National Ballet. I would bet a pound to a penny that a similar future awaits some of this young cast.
