Liesl and I went to see Oregon Ballet Theatre's production of Cinderella this afternoon. It was a very well done show - there was a live orchestra and the sets and staging were beautiful. I liked the choreography and the flow of the show - a kitchen scene with Cinderella and her step family, then the appearance of the fairy godmother and a lovely between-scene with fairies and sprites of nature representing the four seasons. The ball had a terrific jester and some good swirling twirly work from the ball guests/the corps de ballet, and then the final scene of discovery and uniting was mercifully short. The two ugly stepsisters were danced by male dancers in drag, which was a great choice for making it genuinely funny, especially given that one of the "sisters" must have been over 6 feet.
Liesl loved most of the show, but found the interactions between Cinderella and her stepfamily very upsetting - there were intimations of slapping, there was pushing and fighting, the stepmother was clearly mean to to Cinderella and she was distraught... Liesl started to hide her face when the stepsisters appeared because they frightened her. It was interesting to me to see how sensitive she was to those family dynamics, and it made me happy to know that she has been so little exposed to such things that she reacts so strongly against seeing it depicted. She loved watching Cinderella and the prince dance together at the ball and get married at the end.
Standing at the fountains in front of the Keller Theater with two friends - baby Foofoo, of course, and Sandwich the Cat, who has never previously risen to the level of favorite. :)
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