KC Ballet Ends Season With Family Favorite–Cinderella

By Anita Widaman | Entertainment Editor

Everyone loves a story with a happy ending and that usually means boy meets girl; boy gets the girl. But when the story is told through ballet with symphonic music, exquisite sets, and beautiful costumes, it becomes an event!  The Kansas City Ballet is concluding its 56th season this weekend with Victoria Morgan’s “Cinderella”. The score, by Sergei Prokofiev, will be performed by the Kansas City Symphony and conducted by Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau.   Cinderella is choreographed by Cincinnati Ballet Artistic Director Victoria Morgan. Cinderella is great family entertainment.

A magical carriage ride in the KC Ballet’s “Cinderella”.

Cinderella stays true to Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale, complete with mean step sisters, a pumpkin turning into a fancy carriage, a lost glass slipper, and a fairy god mother. There are surprises throughout the ballet that may leave you smiling.  One example is the bumbling step sisters played by male dancers who provide over-the-top silliness that young and old will enjoy.

Prokofiev’s score provides a lovely, lilting waltz for act II when the prince and Cinderella fall in love at the ball and dance a rapturous pas de duex.  At the performance I attended, audience members gasped at interplay of the beautiful music and dancing skills of the prince and Cinderella.

A special event that grandmothers will want to share with their grandchildren is the Cinderella Tea Party on Saturday, May 17 from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. at the Baltimore Club presented by Ameriprise Financial with additional support from Rainy Day Books. Guests will park at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and be transported by coach to Prince Charming’s castle at the Baltimore Club. Attendees will enjoy a light luncheon, story time with special guest news anchor Lara Moritz at KMBC-TV, a visit from Cinderella, and transportation back to the Kauffman for the 2:00 p.m. matinee performance of the ballet. Tickets, priced at $100 each, include transportation, tea party, a special gift for every child from Rainy Day Books, and main floor seats at the matinee performance.

The remaining performances of Cinderella will be Friday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 17, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, May 18, 2 p.m.  Tickets are available by calling the Ballet Box Office at 816-931-2232 or online at www.kcballet.org