Editor’s Note: The following is a press release submitted by the Ithaca Ballet about its upcoming performance of Cinderalla.
To submit a news release, contact me at jstein@ithacavoice.com.
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Ithaca, N.Y. — Cinderella is in the air!
The Disney movie was released last month, and The Ithaca Ballet will end its successful 2014-15 season with magic and beauty of the Cinderella ballet, April 25 at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM at the State Theatre.
In three acts, the ballet tells the story of kind-hearted but downtrodden Cinderella, who is kept in servitude by her Wicked Stepmother and Ugly Stepsisters in the house of her own dead father. Her kindness to an old beggar woman is repaid when it is revealed that the old woman is really her Fairy Godmother, and Cinderella is dressed in finery and glass slippers and sent in a beautiful Pumpkin Carriage to attend the Prince’s Ball. However, Cinderella is warned that the magic will only last until the stroke of midnight.
The Ithaca Ballet’s version of Cinderella is based on an original staging by company founder and Co-Artistic Director, Alice Reid, that dates from 1960. The musical arrangement of Prokoviev’s unforgettable score, and order of the dances remains to this day, pretty close to this original. However, most of the variations have been reworked and re-choreographed over the years by Lavinia and Cindy Reid.
Cinderella is inherently a romantic tale, but humor abounds with comic relief provided by the Ugly Stepsisters, who are played en travestie (by men), a tradition perfected by the Royal Ballet of England. Ithaca Ballet Alumna Rachel Myers will portray Cinderella, with Peter Doll (who trained at Ballet Guild of Ithaca and is Lavinia Reid’s son) as her Prince.
Allen MacNeill and Mike Mee play the Ugly Stepsisters with Melissa Schmidt as the Wicked Stepmother. IB alumna Samantha Sprague will again be gracing the stage as the Fairy Godmother; Tucker Davis will play a cameo as the Dancing Master and IB alumni Trenton Loughlin will be dancing the Jester. Company Dancers featured include Claire Derry and Avery Higgins-Lopez as the Count and Countess, and Edie Guo, Ayla Naghsh , Robin Karlin and Keara Soloway, as Fairies Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. The cast also includes ten guest children from the Ballet Center of Ithaca, official school of the Ithaca Ballet.
Ticket prices to Cinderella are available at the State Theatre box office, online at www.stateofithaca.com