Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre puts new twist on ‘Cinderella’

Real life might not be a picture-perfect fairy tale, but it doesn’t hurt to get lost in one for a night.

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will bring the classic “Cinderella” to life this weekend at the Benedum Center with the help of choreographer Septime Webre. The ballet tells the story everyone knows and loves: Cinderella overcomes a life of servitude, an evil stepmother and stepsisters to find her one true love, Prince Charming.

Despite her rags and wicked stepfamily, Cinderella definitely receives a fun upgrade from her original portrayal in the time-honored tale.

“Everybody loves a love story, and this one in particular is very family friendly,” said Terrence S. Orr, the theatre’s artistic director.

While the traditional story remains for the most part, some new characters and subtle tweaks will make their way onto the stage, set to Sergei Prokofiev’s famed 1945 score, conducted by Charles Barker and performed by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Orchestra.

Children from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School are set to dance in the roles of enchanted garden creatures, including bumblebees, snow angels and butterflies during a select few scenes alongside everyone’s favorite fairy godmother.

Her glass slippers — the fairy tale’s primary staple — also receive a makeover. Rather than being made of glass, they’ve transformed into enchanted pointe shoes.

Perhaps the biggest, and funniest, transformation is the portrayal of the evil stepsisters. Though they’ve never been an attractive pair, Webre has cast two male dancers — at 6-foot-2 and 6-and-4 inches— to play the villainous duo. Webre plays on the tradition of dancing, “en travesti,” which uses a gender-bending role reversal to further characterize the outrageousness of the characters. Dolled up in overflowing hoop skirts as well as loud, garish makeup and wigs, the two men will supply a heavy dose of laughs for the audience.

“Septime Webre incorporated a lot of great comedy and has done an amazing job with the stepsisters,” said Amanda Cochrane, who plays the part of Cinderella. “No matter how many times people watch this ballet, there’s always giggles throughout the entire studio when the stepsisters are dancing.”

Cochrane has danced for the past 20 years, since the age of three, and noted just how important this role has been for her.

“Cinderella has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, so this is kind of like a dream come true for me,” she said. “It’s a very touching, gorgeous ballet, and I think that’s because of Cinderella’s character. She’s very kind and giving despite what she’s surrounded by and is a great role model for audiences of all ages.”

On the surface the production is beautiful, chock full of humor and accompanied by a talented orchestra and sweeping score. An unbelievable amount of work goes into a ballet performance such as this one — sometimes more than anyone might imagine. Cochrane said that, at this point, the dancers are completing two run throughs of the show per day, five days a week.

Orr said audience members should be prepared to see multiple pirouettes and big, impressive jumps from the dancers, who certainly will not disappoint.

“Ballet dancers have changed a lot in general over the past 20, 30 and 40 years, and it’s become a very physical art form,” he said. “These dancers are surprisingly better than most athletes in Pittsburgh because they use all parts of their body, not just muscles, and a lot of people are usually just in awe of the grace, skill and strength that they have when they see the shows. It makes for very interesting, unique [and] exciting performances.”