A little animal magic

Peter And The Wolf is the sort of music that makes you wish you were six.

Prokofiev's symphonic fairytale, written for orchestra and narrator, has crisp, clear melodies, and light, sweet playing, plus a big, scary beastie that has children ooh-ing and aah-ing in panto-style delight.

It is also kiddie-friendly quick, barely 25 minutes, making it ideal for easing impatient young ears into serious classical music. However, it's tricky to stage as a ballet, as a half-hour dance show is hardly worth the effort of getting children to the theatre.

The Hackney Empire solution is to add a modern-day introduction to Prokofiev's fairytale original.

Instead of starting with a folkloric bird, duck, cat, and wolf, plus Peter himself, this production opens with a Fisher-Price coloured classroom full of trainer-wearing youngsters whose moves hint at the creatures to come: Zoe is nimble, Francis a little awkward, and Missy neat and sleek. Lucas loves the gym, while Jack is a loner who just wants to be in the woods with all the plants and wildlife.

A friendly teacher encourages them to express themselves in dance, and all is hip-hop upbeat, with jaunty new music from Erik Van der Wurff and a cheery storyline narrated by Peter Wickham.

Fast forward to Act II, and the new section looks less assured. Part of the reason is that Prokofiev's original is just so good, almost any addition would pale.

But you also sense that Prokofiev has inspired choreographer Doug Elkins in ways the new music has not. His moves for the Act II creatures are funny and clever, with flirtatious ballet glides for the bird, hip-hop waddles for the duck, slinky slides for the cat, and kung-fu kicks for the wolf.

The bird and duck are especially well done, their steps gently expressing their natures, next to which Act I rather forces its street-dance credentials.

That said, this Peter is pleasingly staged, with clever sets, and the music brightly played by soloists of the Philharmonia. It is aimed quite young, probably five- to 10-year-olds who will love Act II but may struggle with Act I.

Doug Elkins has compared it to The Nutcracker, in that his modern-day Jack sees the fairytale Peter as the brave little man he can be.

It's a nice twist to the classic 'Overcoming The Monster' story, with our young hero saving his friends and living happily ever after.