From snags to riches

Frederick Ashton’s “Cinderella” contains some of the most spectacularly inventive ensemble choreography created in the 20th century.

In scene after scene of this full-evening fantasy, which Britain’s Royal Ballet brought to the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Monday, Ashton provides a triumphant extension of the classical tradition.

Overlapping and fusing patterns for 12 women representing the hours, four more cast as the seasons and -- depending which act you’re watching -- additional passages for Cinderella and her Prince, the Fairy Godmother and/or four of the Prince’s friends, he confirms a mastery that always proves dazzling.

Premiered in 1948 as the first full-evening ballet by a British choreographer, this “Cinderella” attempts to combine 19th century classical conventions with innovations from British popular theater -- most notably the practice of casting men as Cinderella’s obnoxious stepsisters.

The result ranges from broad comedy to exquisite lyricism and continues to enchant, even in the problematic new restaging that opened the company’s six-day run.

Credited to Wendy Ellis Somes (production) and Christopher Carr (staging), this edition of “Cinderella” remains hopelessly unmagical as theater, tells its story badly and continually undercuts the plight of its heroine, a matter of grave importance to Sergei Prokofiev when he composed the score in the early ‘40s for the Bolshoi. Conductor Boris Gruzin makes a powerful case for Prokofiev’s priorities, but the feeble expressive values of what you see seldom match the emotional force of what you hear.

Indeed, virtually all the new production values turn out to be liabilities. Toer van Schayk’s sets look heavy and move clumsily -- not exactly perfect for an Ashton ballet. Christine Haworth’s costumes ricochet from one period to another and are frequently over-fussy, though they do turn the stepsisters into monuments of comic bad taste. Mark Jonathan’s lighting leaves major transformations in the dark, and nobody manages to put Cinderella into toe shoes that remotely resemble in shape or color the slipper the Prince finds at the end of the ball.

OK. We’ve all been here before: looking past a wrongheaded Royal Ballet restaging at glorious choreography and fabulous dancing. That tradition, too, has been extended: to a new generation of principals born in Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil and Japan plus, occasionally, Britain and her former empire.

Whatever languages are spoken backstage, the dancing has been coached to a sumptuous unanimity of refinement, with the company’s sense of classical placement always exemplary.

The Monday cast also boasted distinctive leads, none more overpowering than Alastair Marriott as the pushy stepsister and Jonathan Howells as the timid one. If they seemed too unyieldingly dominant throughout Act 1, blame Prokofiev. In the last two acts, they punctuated the romantic and formal dance episodes with welcome finesse.

Dancing a role marked by simple emotions and complex step-combinations, tiny Alina Cojocaru made an endearing Cinderella who could dance with startling speed, precision and brilliance of attack when necessary or melt into helpless yearning as required. A very impressive performance.

Partnering Cojocaru with effortless proficiency, Johan Kobborg displayed the softest, lightest jump in anyone’s kingdom. But technical blemishes here and there kept his performance as the Prince below the perfect prowess he displayed in the 1990s dancing Bournonville with the Royal Danish Ballet.

Super-buoyant Jose Martin contributed stellar technique to the ballroom act as the Soviet-style Jester. Joshua Tuifua embodied an impossible standard of elegance for the stepsisters as the Dancing Master. Isabel McMeekan exuded flawless classical aplomb as the Godmother.

As the seasons, Christina Elida Salerno, Lauren Cuthbertson, Laura Morera and Marianela Nunez danced with alluring Covent Garden suavity, sometimes partnered by the Prince’s friends: Martin Harvey, David Makhateli, Yohei Sasaki and Edward Watson.

This is a great constellation of dance artists, and, if the many flaws of its “Cinderella” never quite vanish, the dancers and choreography do consistently fill the heart with a sense of wonder.

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‘Cinderella’

Where: Royal Ballet at Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 8 p.m. today and Thursday

Price: $25 to $100

Contact: (714) 740-7878, (213) 365-6500 or www.ocpac.org