NEWS > CINDERELLA ARCHIVE - PART ONE
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CINDERELLA originally premiered at the Piccadilly Theatre in London on September 26th 1997
It starred Adam Cooper as The Pilot and his soon to be wife, Sarah Wildor (Guesting from The Royal Ballet) as Cinderella.
It also featured Will Kemp, who had scored a big success in the West End Production of Swan Lake, as The Angel
...and ballet legend, Lynn Seymour, in her final stage performance, to date, as The Stepmother
Further casts featured Saranne Curtin and Maxine Fone as Cinderella, Ewan Wardrop and Will Kemp as The Pilot, Arthur Pita and Adam Cooper as The Angel and Isabel Mortimer and Emily Piercy as The Step Mother.
In anticipation of the long awaited revival of one of Matthew Bourne's biggest, and most memorable productions, we thought we would whet your appitite with a series of dips into the Bourne archive. First we look at the 1997 production....
Sarah Wildor and Adam Cooper in a very filmic pre-production publicity shot, based on the film on which the piece was partly inspired.....
Kim Hunter and David Niven in Powell and Pressburgers' classic 1946 film "A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH"
The Pilot (Harry) and Cinderella meet at the Ball. Cinderella's dress was based on a Chanel original.
The original cast family featured many "Adventures" favourites. From Left to Right - Emily Piercy (Vivien), Heather Habans (Irene), Ben Wright (Vernon), Scott Ambler (Malcolm) below him, Andrew Walkinshaw (Elliott), Lynn Seymour (Sybil, The Stepmother), Barry Atkinson (Robert, The Father) and Sarah Wildor as Cinderella.
Cinderella bids farewell to her Father at Paddington Station. Ewan Wardrop as The Pilot, Saranne Curtin as Cinderella and Barry Atkinson as The Father. Also seen are the three Brothers played by Andrew Walkinshaw, Ben Wright and Scott Ambler.
Pre-Production studio shots of Will Kemp as The Angel. The Angel is the character that is based on what would normally be called the "Fairy Godmother". He is instead a male Guardian Angel in the Bourne version. His suit was designed to shimmer and catch light as he moved around the stage...
Despite being a Guardian Angel to Cinderella, The Angel sometimes also appears to be a fate figure, even an Angel Of Death, playing with the lives of fearful Londoners during The Blitz...
In one scene called "The Blackout", Cinderella imagines that a group of people wearing Gas Masks are a bunch of rabid dogs! In the LA production in 1999, these costumes were changed to look more like ordinary people on the street.
In 1997, Michela Meazza played her first featured role for Matthew Bourne as the "Lead Prostitute" (!!) in the London Underground sequence. Michela has gone on to play many leading roles in the company repertory as well as creating Joyce in "Edward Scissorhands" and, most recently, Lady H in "Dorian Gray"
The Bombed Ballroom sequence (above) was based on an actual incident that took place in London on 8th March 1941 when the legendary club, The Cafe De Paris, recieved a direct hit killing many people including dancing couples and the jazz band and its bandleader "Snake-hips" Johnson....
The original artwork for the 1997 production has been used as a teaser campaign for the 2010 production...
only it has been given a more colourful and magical background...
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Watch this space for further visits to "The Archive" to discover more about Matthew Bourne's CINDERELLA, its influences and it's historical background.
