Comedy time for Cinders

It's Christmas, and dancewise that means happy-ending ballets with the good rewarded and the bad punished, or at least made to see the error of their ways. There's no emotional hand-wringing, just three Nutcrackers and two Cinderellas, all with a nod to the youngsters and sometimes a wink for the grown-ups.

English National Ballet kicked off its Christmas season last night with Cinderella, an ultra-traditional, ultra-safe staging, with Prokoviev's music and choreography by one-time Royal Ballet dancer Michael Corder. He re-tells the rags-to-riches story with clarity and tenderness, and in a style that refers to both Kenneth MacMillan and Frederick Ashton, two former Royal directors whose paths Corder would have crossed.

The opening night Cinders and her Prince were stellar husband-and-wife team Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur, a duo who bring refinement and seriousness to everything they perform. Corder's choreography gives them plenty to do, although both are better at nobility than humility, with Oaks, in particular, less good as Cinders than she is as the Prince's radiant bride-to-be.

Corder makes a number of changes to the Cinderellas children must work to imagine - say - the Beast's enchanted palace, they are equally rewarded both with slapstick and high comedy.

Sophie Winkleman's jealously selfish Veronique is a wicked treat, well matched by Dorothy we're used to, including a romantic duet at the end and having women play the Ugly Sisters. Last night's gruesome twosome were Simone Clarke and Sarah Mcllroy, and they were more like the air-headed nitwits you see in Tatler magazine than the vicious Uglies you usually get on stage. This takes some of the bite off the show - if the Uglies are only averagely awful posh birds, then Cinders's plight is less severe, and her reward less deserved.

However, what strikes you about ENB is how well its men are dancing. The Prince's two companions were extremely good, especially Trevor Schoonraad, who has a plush phrasing to his steps. Yat-Sen Chang was springy as the Autumn Fairy's Cavalier, as was Yosvani Ramos as the Dancing Master.

Less good were some of the group scenes, and some of the sets, which are looking a bit thin. Also, the production is mighty long - at nigh-on three hours, plus travelling time, you'll be home after Cinders.

Cinderella: English National Ballet