Many great dance makers have tried to match Prokofiev’s rather ponderous score but you cannot get further from Walt Disney than the Mikhailovsky Ballet’s latest creation.
The curtain rises on a wood-panelled drawing room in a comfortable country gentleman’s home, superbly realised by designer Vyacheslav Okunev.
Centre stage is Ksenia Rusina’s stepmother, a red-headed monster being made to look a fool by overdressed daughters Tatiana Miltseva and Asthik Ogannesyan.
Then you notice Cinderella tucked away crouching by the fire, drab in dress, downtrodden in life. But when frightened by their stepmother to rush frantically around with a broom, you realise this is the one.
Angelina Vorontsova does more than just dance, she melts into the music.
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There are no separate flashy steps, no stagey “look at me” tricks and when she helps the beggar woman it is all so natural.
The rather creepy black clad crone turns out to be Svetlana Bednenko and magic takes over. Messerer’s first true delight is the Waltz for the company’s women.
For many this well-known piece is ponderous and heavy going but, somehow, Messerer turns it into a refreshing delight. His mastery in dealing with crowds of dancers is his handling of the ballroom.
Back projections create a vast colonnade packed with dancers, who all magically shift indoors for the grand entrance of the Prince, Ivan Zaytsev.
The sweeping projections are a major part of this production and at one stage Cinderella appears to float in from outer space.
Fireworks on the backcloth announce the love between Cinders and the Prince while the aggressive clock thrashing out midnight is simply terrifying. But tricks aside, the glass slipper solves the couple’s little misunderstanding and they dance a final duet of heartrending affection and technical brilliance.
As the music slowly fades the stage fills with loving couples dotted about, arms around each other. Motionless in their own little pool of togetherness, they silently smile as the final curtain slowly falls. But their message echoes around the auditorium.
When the music has to stop, they say, we are your only truth today, for the future and all eternity. Talks are in progress for a London season for the company.
Mikhailovsky Ballet, Mikhailovsky Theatre, St Petersburg (mikhailovsky.ru/en/)