Mar 10, 2016 - with Cinderella and her beautiful dress. The enchanted prince cannot take his eyes off her. He invites th
Synopsis ACT I Scene 1: Cinderella’s House
In Cinderella’s father’s house, Cinderella is sitting by the fire and then cleans the dishes. Her stepmother instructs her daughters to sew her a scarf and then leaves. The sisters begin to fray and tear the fabric for the scarf. They blame the incident on Cinderella. The stepmother has a fit, and then stops with the appearance of the royal dancing-master. He presents an invitation to the ball and tries to teach ballroom dancing to the nasty sisters. Cinderella’s stepmother fights over the scarf and then they all depart for the ball without Cinderella.
Prudential Hall Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 8pm
NJPAC presents
Russian National Ballet Theatre
Cinderella is left alone and has sad dreams of the royal ball. Suddenly the room is filled with light, and in front of Cinderella, the Fairy appears—her godmother—surrounded by the Fairies of the four seasons. She will fulfill the desire of Cinderella go to the ball and gives her a beautiful dress and shoes. She warns Cinderella that midnight she must return. When the clock strikes midnight her dress will turn into pitiful rags. A happy Cinderella, not believing her luck, goes to the ball surrounded by the entourage of the four seasons Fairies.
Cinderella
Full-Length Ballet in Two Acts
Music by Sergei Prokofiev Libretto by Nicolai Volkov Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov Stage version by Elena Radchenko Sets and Costumes by Elizaveta Dvorkina Lighting by Marina Borodina
Scene 2: Ball in the Royal Palace
The royal palace is filled with guests—ladies and gentlemen dancing. The young Prince also dances and talks with the guests. Then the stepmother appears who wants to marry off her daughters to the Prince. The Prince and guests wonder, watching their ridiculous behavior. Suddenly the room is in the radiant with Cinderella and her beautiful dress. The enchanted prince cannot take his eyes off her. He invites the beautiful stranger to dance and Cinderella and the Prince dance oblivious to anyone around them. But suddenly we hear the chimes of midnight! Cinderella had forgotten about it! She runs away and loses her slipper. Then the Prince runs after her, but only finds her slipper.
This performance is made possible, in part, through the generosity of The Judy and Josh Weston Fund for Artistic Excellence.
– INTERMISSION – ACT II Scene 3: The Royal Palace
The Prince is desperate. He wants to find the beautiful girl that ran off leaving her slipper. Many beautiful women from different countries and parts of the world come to claim they left the slipper behind, but no one who tries fits the slipper. The Prince then goes in search of the beautiful stranger. Scene 4: Cinderella’s House
Cinderella recalls how she and the Prince were dancing at the palace. The sisters brag in front of her about their impressions of the ball. The silly sisters again grapple, arguing about which of them is better than the other. They try to calm their stepmother. Then suddenly there are sounds of a fanfare! The Prince and his entourage enter the house. Sadly, he has to try the slipper on all the sisters. Of course it is too small and does not fit either of them. Prince goes to leave, but the stepmother takes the slipper and tries to put it on Cinderella, who can no longer witness the frenzy the stepmother and her stepsisters are causing and drops the second slipper. Everyone is surprised to see the dirty and poorly dressed girl. Then the Fairy godmother appears and tells everyone to leave the room. The Prince immediately recognizes Cinderella as the beautiful stranger in a shining dress. They dance together. Scene 5: The Royal Palace
The Fairy godmother appears again and returns Cinderella’s beautiful gown. The lovers find each other and holding hands, they go forward in happiness and love!
As a courtesy to the performers and fellow audience members, please be sure to silence all mobile devices. The use of any recording devices, audio or video, and the taking of pictures, with or without flash, without the written permission of RAIN management, is strictly prohibited. This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. XIV New Jersey Performing Arts Center
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Meet the Composer and the Wolf (1936), and two of the greatest ballets of the twentieth century: Romeo and Juliet (1935) and Cinderella (1945). During an active professional life, he composed seven symphonies in all, the last finished just months before his death. Prokofiev’s music is characterized by percussiveness, lyricism and neoclassical structure. As one of the principal Russian figures in classical music during the period of the Second World War, his work also reflects the needs of national self-unity and support for the national struggle. Many of these themes can be seen in Romeo and Juliet—in particular the recurrent percussive elements of the score. SERGEI PROKOFIEV Sergei Prokofiev was born in the Ukraine in 1891. After private study, he enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where one of his teachers was Rimsky Korsakov. By the time of his graduation, he had already composed a considerable body of music including his first ballet, The Buffoon. From 1922, Prokofiev lived in Paris where he was a friend of Perm’s most famous cultural figure Sergei Diaghilev. In 1933, he returned to Russia and in the following years wrote some of his best works, including the fairy tale set to music, Peter
The ballet, Romeo and Juliet, first arose from a suggestion from the Kirov who requested Prokofiev to write a new ballet. But his choice of subject matter proved controversial from the start and the project was taken over by the Bolshoi. The problem was the ending of the story—as Prokofiev later put it: “Living people can dance, the dying cannot.” It was the longest ballet Prokofiev had ever written and the most intensely dramatic. Over a number of years and by working with several different companies, the contradictions between the dramatic and choreographic needs of the ballet were resolved and the work took its place as a centerpiece of his oeuvre.
About the Company RUSSIAN NATIONAL BALLET THEATRE Company of 50 Artistic Director: Elena Radchenko The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s. Many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union’s ballet institutions were exercising their new-found creative freedom by starting new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian Ballet, but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world. The company, then titled the Soviet National Ballet, was founded by and incorporated graduates from the great Russian choreographic schools of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Perm. The principal dancers of the company came from the upper ranks of the great ballet companies and academies of Russia, and the companies of Riga, Kiev and even Warsaw. XVI New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company since its inception. In addition to their extensive tour history, beginning in January 2017 the company will embark upon a 4-month coastto-coast tour of the United States. In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent artistic directorship of the company. Ms. Radchenko is the founder of the Russian National Ballet Theatre, and she has focused the Company on upholding the grand national tradition of the major Russian ballet works and developing new talents throughout Russia, with a repertory of virtually all of the great full works of Petipa, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Raymonda, Paquita, Coppelia and La Sylphide, as well as productions of The Nutcracker, Sylvia and La Fille Mal Gardee, among others. March 2016
