Photo by Tom Davenport
Frilly skirts flying, the men playing Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters twirl their legs at lightning speed and hop in circles as they practice for the ball. Choreographer Michael Pink interrupts the scene every few moments to sharpen details, giving everybody time to laugh. “It’s honest English humor,” says Pink, himself a former stepsister with the English National Ballet. “I’ve seen the roles played by ladies and it’s fine but this is the world of ballet and you have to work really hard to make a ballerina ugly.”
Four of Milwaukee Ballet’s best performers, Timothy O’Donnell, Patrick Howell, Marc Petrocci and Ryan Martin, will play these bravura clown roles in Milwaukee Ballet’s upcoming production of Cinderella.
“Obviously, Stepsister Two is the most entertaining role to perform that I’ve had in my career so far,” says O’Donnell. “Rehearsing it is great; so many endorphins flying about the room. I can’t look at Patrick or I just lose it. If I look him in the eye, it’s over.” An Australian native, O’Donnell won the Genesis International Choreographic Competition here in 2009 and joined Milwaukee Ballet in 2012 as a choreographer and dancer. “He’ll do something so brilliant and funny,” he continues, “it inspires me to do something back and it grows and grows. I have to find ways to calm down or it gets too ridiculous. That’s the challenge of playing a stepsister.”
Sergei Prokofiev’s beautifully complicated musical score adds more challenges. “It’s so hard to count and you can lose yourself so easily in it,” O’Donnell says. For Pink, it’s the most important element. “After the success of his Romeo and Juliet,” Pink says, “Prokofiev worked even harder to make the music tell the whole story. Part of our work is to decode what he’s saying. I’ve moved some things around and shortened it a little, but by and large I’m interpreting what he’s given us.”
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“It’s fun to revisit an iconic fairytale with such vivid characters,” says Petrocci who played a stepsister in Pink’s first staging of Cinderella in 2009. The comic relief these characters provide balances the show’s darker scenes. Pink begins the ballet at the grave of Cinderella’s mother whose spirit replaces the Fairy Godmother. This gentle soul conjures a magical fellow named Jack, a houseboy drawn like the stepsisters from British pantomime, who serves as a guardian angel for Cinderella, helping her survive the frightening family her sorrowing father assembles when he marries a heartless social climber. Those who saw last season’s Mirror Mirror, Pink’s adaptation of Snow White, will recognize the evil queen in Cinderella’s stepmother.
“This version is absolutely changed from 2009,” Pink says. “The second time you direct a show, it’s closer to the version you want because you have more time to explore, to finesse things and nail them down. The first time, you follow your emotions. I’ve cleaned up the choreography that didn’t work or that felt unnatural or that I just didn’t like. I’ve redone both of the big pas de deux for Cinderella and the Prince.”
“The new dancing is a lot harder than it looks,” O’Donnell says. “But as the company keeps rising in ability, we might as well keep pushing it.” He compares the process to Pink’s Dracula, an international hit created in 1996. “The reason it’s such a slick, well-oiled machine now is because he’s gotten rid of everything that’s ever annoyed him about it.”
Susan Gartell and Rachel Malehorn play Cinderella’s stepmother. In rehearsal, they practice a series of powerful gestures set precisely to the fiery music, memorizing music and movements. Annia Hildalgo as Cinderella lies sobbing on the floor after an encounter with her harpy-like stepmother. Pink stands beside Hidalgo’s trembling body, quietly advising her about the acting of this moment. Luz San Miguel, who shares the Cinderella role, listens to him and makes adjustments in her own body.
In another corner, Alexandre Ferreira and Davit Hovhannisyan rehearse the Prince’s solo with the glass slipper, sharing insights into the role they’ll both perform. Their naturalness reminds me of something else I admired in Pink’s 2009 production: the realism of the central characters. Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters are the only ones for whom the Prince’s royalty counts. Cinderella and the Prince are believable youngsters testing the idea of partnership, excited by one another, a bit awed but hopeful.
A sad note: Dancer Ryan Martin will retire at the end of the run after 10 years with Milwaukee Ballet. He’s played a leading role in helping the company grow into one of the best.
Cinderella runs May 14-17, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. Call 414-902-2103 or visit milwaukeeballet.org.
