Cinderella review: Marianela Nuñez shines in Royal Ballet’s restaging of Frederick Ashton classic

The dancing is the highlight in this lavish but disjointed new production

Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nuñez in ‘Cinderella’ (Tristram Kenton)

The Royal Ballet’s new Cinderella is lavish but disjointed. This staging of Frederick Ashton’s 1948 ballet swirls with video design, illusions and big, frothy costumes, often pulling in different directions. Yet it’s held together by the dancing, and most of all by Marianela Nuñez’s radiant heroine.

Ashton’s ballet is a classic, but a tricky one. Conducted by Koen Kessels, the Prokofiev score is spikier than you might expect for a fairytale, with a dark undertow to its dazzling waltzes. There’s so much music for the Ugly Sisters, but so little for the Prince and Cinderella together.

This new version, staged by Wendy Ellis Somes and Gary Avis, adds more disparate elements. The ambition and energy are a step up from The Royal Ballet’s previous production, but don’t help the ballet’s coherence.