A Real Beauty: Chelmsford Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty

Marion Pettet as Carabosse

(c) 2016 Chelmsford Ballet Company, all rights reserved
Reproduction licensed by the company

Chelmsford Ballet Company, The Sleeping Beauty, Chelmsford Civic Theatre, 19 March 2016


Some would say that I am not the best person to write this review on the ground that I am far from unbiased. It is true that I am more than a Friend or well wisher of the Chelmsford Ballet Company as I am an associate member of the company and if I lived nearer I would audition for dancing membership. My membership of this remarkable company, which will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its origins next year, is a source of enormous pride. Never have I been more proud of my membership of the Chelmsford Ballet Company than I was on Saturday evening when I saw its performance of The Sleeping Beauty.

The Sleeping Ballet is not an easy ballet to stage because it is very long and has an enormous cast.  It is also associated in the minds of us Brits with the re-opening of the Royal Opera House on the 20 Feb 1946 with a cast that included Moira Shearer, Leslie Edwards. Gillian Lynne, Henry Danton, Beryl Gray, Michael Somes, Robert Halpmann, Jean Bedells, Harold Turner, Gerd Larsen, Stanley Holden, Pamela May and, of course, Margot Fonteyn. It is therefore a challenge to any company, particularly one that is composed largely of men and women with full time careers outside dance.

Our company responded to that challenge admirably.

First, our choreographer and artistic director, Annette Potter, pruned Petipa's choreography to manageable lengths adapting the work to the capabilities of her dancers who ranged widely in age and experience without sacrificing any of the important and often difficult bits such as the rose adagio or bluebird pas de deux.

Secondly, she had an excellent cast: Scarlett Mann as Aurora who had danced the title role in Pineapple Poll so enchantingly last year (see A Delight Indeed 22 March 2015), Lucy Abbott as the lilac fairy (quite a challenge as the company's co-patron dances Count Lilac in Sir Matthew Bourne's production of The Sleeping Beauty). guest artists Andrei Iliescu as Prince Florimund, Emily Starling as the fairy in the vision and Matthew Powell as one of the princes in the rose adagio, Morgan Wren who has advanced tremendously since I saw him as Fritz in The Nutcracker two years ago (see The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy 20 March 2014) and of course the magnificent Marion Petter as Carabosse. Everybody in the show performed well and the only reason why I have not mentioned them all individually is that this review is long enough already.

The third ingredient of the show's success was its special effects. There were indoor fireworks as Carabosse made her entrances and exits. A menacing image projected onto the backdrop presaged her arrival at Aurora's christening and birthday party. An ingenious animation represented a century's growth of vegetation around Aurora and her family. The programme credited Phil Rhodes with special effects. Clearly he is a talented young man and I hope to see more of his work in future.

There is in fact a lot of talent in Chelmsford.  For me, Marion Pettett stole the show as she did last year as Mrs Dimple and Britannia in Pineapple Poll and the mother in Carnival of the Animals.  She positively exuded evil with her rodent like acolytes. Gita, the other member of Team Terpsichore, likes to choose a man or woman of the match when she attends the ballet as she is an accomplished sportswoman. Her choice for this show was Morgan Wren and I can quite see why. But there is also talent bubbling up from below. The smallest of Carabosse's acolytes had real stage presence as she took her leave of the audience before scurrying off with her evil mistress. I don't know that child's name but I do hope she carries on with her dance and theatre studies because she has great aptitude for the performing arts.  It is worth adding that that young girl was by no means the only young person to show promise.

It is rare for ballet companies to receive a standing ovation in this country but there were more than a few members of the audience who rose to their feet at the end of Saturday evening's show. The audience in the Chelmsford Civic was not unsophisticated. It knew when to clap - for instance the entrance of the principals and difficult bits of the choreography. I don't think that they would rise for anyone or anything without good reason and the fact that so many did on Saturday night speaks volumes for the show.

I do not know what Annette Potter and Marion Pettett are planning for next year's show but as it was in 1947 that Joan Weston organized a troupe of dancers at Broomfield YMCA which became Chelmsford Ballet I am sure that it will be good. Having achieved a lot over the years the company has a lot to celebrate. Though the March show is the highlight of the year the company holds other events such as Let's Make a Ballet for children in the Autumn and the Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society's Christmas show. Occasionally, they arrange coach trips to West End shows. I know we have the Choral but I wish we had a something like the Chelmsford Ballet in Huddersfield.

The Nutcracker as it really should be danced - No Gimmicks but with Love and Joy

Chelmsford Ballet Company The Nutcracker Chelmsford Civic Theatre
19 March 2014

I had very high expectations of The Chelmsford Ballet Company's performance of The Nutcracker. As I noted in The Chelmsford Ballet 16 Dec 2013

"An amateur company with patrons like Christopher Marney, choreographer of the wonderful War Letters for Ballet Black, and the great ballerina, Doreen Wells, invites attention. On the home page of their website the Chelmsford Ballet Company describes itself as "an amateur company who set professional standards for all [its] work, involving professionals in [its] productions, courses, and other teaching and workshop opportunities." According to the history page it traces its history back to 1947 which makes it older than English National Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Northern Ballet."

I had fresh cause to admire the company when I learned that Cara O'Shea, the wonderful teacher I had seen at Northern Ballet's Open Day and who also taught me a few days later, had danced for the Company as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. None of that had quite prepared me for yesterday which was one of the happiest evenings that I have ever spent at the ballet.

There were so many reasons why I enjoyed this performance. First, it kept faithfully to the story that we all know and love.  No gimmicks like balloon trips or regal rodents clinging to the gondola into Act II. Set firmly in Mitteleuropa rather than the banks of the Thames, the Christmas party taking place at the Stahlbaums and not the Edwards and Clara remained a little girl throughout the show and did not morph into Sugar Plum. Secondly, this was a production in which every age group and both genders were well represented. I had expected to see only teenagers (mainly girls) and while there were certainly plenty of them the cast also included prominent members of Chelmsford society. Thirdly. they had a wonderful audience who knew when and where to clap. How they yelled when they saw something they liked. And how they roared at the end of the performance. Chelmsford knows that it has something special in its city and it supports the company magnificently. The theatre was packed. 

As I mentioned in "Chelmsford Ballet's Nutcracker - Not Long Now!" 24 Feb 2014 the company had engaged Richard Bermange to dance the Cavalier, Emma Lister Sugar Plum and Michael Budd, the Mouse King as guest artists.  They all danced well but I particularly admired Lister for her solo in the final pas de deux. With the possible exception of the overture the music for that dance is the best known part of the score and this ballet has more memorable tunes than just about any other. She executed it impressively. Bermange partnered Lister well and Budd was a Putin of a mouse king if not a Stalin. Really, really scary.

Amelia Wallis, who danced Clara, was delightful. Not only can she dance well but she can also act. Clara is on stage for almost the whole ballet which must require considerable stamina and concentration. Wallis did not flag or drop her smile for a second.  Clearly she has talent and I am sure we shall all see more of her. Also talented is Morgan Wren who danced Fritz, Clara's pesky brother, the Nutcracker and the Chinese divertissement. He has presence. Other dancers who caught my eye were Jessica Wilson who danced one of the Harlequins, the Spanish dance and the dance of the flowers, Jasmine Bailey, the other Harlequin, the principal snowflake and leader of the dance of the flowers and Megan MacKatchie, also in the Spanish dance.  Andrew Potter was a magnificent Drosselmeyer, Marion Pettet. Frau Stahlbaum, ever the gracious host - I loved the way she reprimanded a naughty boy tousling his hair - Stan Rose the sporting grandfather and Elizabeth Baker his wife.

But there was far more than just great dancing.  Ingenious sets and costumes, clever lighting and a last but not least a beautifully designed and printed illustrated programme. Altogether it was a triumph for the artistic director Annette Potter.

The show continues until the 22 March and there will be a video of Saturday's performance of which I shall certainly buy a copy. I came down from Yorkshire to see this show and I would say it was well worth the effort. We Yorkshire folk are quite sparing in our praise - particularly of Southerners. If we say something is good you can be sure it is bloody marvellous. If you live anywhere in East Anglia, Greater London or the home counties do yourselves a favour and see this show.