Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes captivated an audience at Bristol Hippodrome yesterday evening (Tuesday), and people rose out of their seats to celebrate the show’s triumphant return to the stage for the first time since 2017.
The enthralling production mesmerised viewers from start to finish. A spectacular performance, which, according to a friend, was so enhancing you felt as though you were dreaming throughout.
Choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne adapted Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 film of the same name, which follows the life of an aspiring dancer, Victoria Page, and her desires to impress Boris Lermontov, the director of a successful ballet company.
In the dazzling production, Victoria, along with driven orchestra conductor, Julian Craster, both join the company, but her ambitions become a battleground between the two men who inspire her passion, Julian and Boris, when she is torn between her career and romance.
Set to the achingly romantic music of golden-age by Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann, The Red Shoes is orchestrated by Terry Davies, with cinematic designs by Lez Brotherston, Paule Constable directing lighting and sound by Paul Groothuis.
The double-Oliver award-winning production is an adaptation based on Hans Christian Andersen's 1845 fairytale of the same name, and the theatre show is a tale of obsession and possession.
Sensational and seemingly effortless performances between ballet dancers from Victoria (Cordelia Braithwaite), Boris (Glenn Graham) and Julian (Dominic North) were breathtaking, including The Ballet Lermontov group made-up of Irina Boronskaja (Michela Meazza), Ivan Boleslawsky (Jason Fisch) and Grischa Ljubov (Liam Mower) to name a few, who were magnificent.
Victoria and Boris' duet was a dream to watch, and Cordelia lived and breathed her character's innocent, starry-eyed outlook on life to a tee, which is remarkable, considering no spoken word was uttered in the show.
Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes will be performed at Bristol Hippodrome, in St Augustines Parade, until Saturday.
Tickets, priced from £23.90, are available at www.atgtickets.com/venues/bristol-hippodrome or call 08448 713012.
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