Cinderella brings a ballroom blitz to Liverpool

Sir Matthew Bourne makes his annual visit to the Liverpool Empire next month with a return for his popular Cinderella.

The New Adventures production previously enchanted audiences at the Lime Street venue in 2011.

Now the ballet, danced to Prokofiev’s stunning score – composed during World War II, and which under Bourne is transported from a fairytale kingdom to Blitz-hit London, is back.

Prince Charming is a dashing RAF pilot who meets Cinderella on one magical evening, before the war tears them apart.

Sir Matthew says: “My guiding light with this production has always been the incredible Powell and Pressburger classic A Matter Of Life and Death, starring David Niven and Kim Hunter. Niven’s character, Peter Carter, an RAF pilot, miraculously survives almost certain death when his plane crashes into the sea.

Matthew Bourne's Cinderella. Photos by Johan Persson.

“It soon becomes clear that he has cheated death and the heavenly agents and angels have made a mistake. He hovers between life and death, but guided by a male guardian angel, and the woman he loves, he is given a second chance.

“In essence he’s saved by the power of love.

“My Cinderella does not tell this exact story, by any means, but its fanciful, and particularly English whimsy and romance is, I hope, captured in our story of wartime love and conflict.

"Our ‘angel’ is also male, rather than the usual Fairy Godmother but he is based more on Cary Grant in The Bishops Wife, and Fred Astaire, who played a dancing angel on several occasions.”

The set and costumes are designed by long-time Bourne collaborator, and Liverpool’s own, Les Brotherston.

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is at the Liverpool Empire from April 10-14. Tickets from the website HERE