London Children’s Ballet in Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella

London Children’s Ballet’s 2025 production is based on Shirley Hughes’ best selling book and features choreography by Kristen McNally…

Toby Gray (Buttons) and Gina Harris-Sullivan (Ella) in ‘Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella’. © Photography by ASH.

London Children’s Ballet
Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella
★★★★✰
London, Peacock Theatre
4 July 2025
www.londonchildrensballet.com
www.sadlerswells.com

Back in 2015, nine-year-old Bunny May¹ captured the nation’s hearts in choreography by the Royal Ballet’s Kristen McNally. It was an advertisement for John Lewis, and while it might not have featured perfect ballet steps, it encapsulated the inner yearning of children to perform and McNally’s gorgeously quirky take on ballet and storytelling. Sadly, the behind-the-scenes video where Bunny May talked about how brilliant it was to work with Kristen now seems lost. But fast forward ten years, and McNally has again been working with children, except this time there are over 50 of them in a full-evening show - Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella - that premiered last night at the Peacock in London’s West End. It was an uplifting event in so many ways.

London Children’s Ballet (LCB) has been putting on original story ballets for over 30 years, and for many youngsters, it has provided a full-on taste of being part of a professional show. Its impact is underscored on the first page of this year’s programme, where Royal Ballet principal (and now LCB Patron) Anna Rose O’Sullivan recalls being part of the 2004 production: ‘What a life-changing opportunity it proved to be. The experience marked the beginning of my journey in ballet as a career.’

LCB, originally started with much passion by Lucille Briance and now directed by the sparkling Ruth Brill, couples unique ballets with live original music and custom-made sets and costumes. Although they sometimes reprise their works, there is always a freshness in what LCB does, as each year the company, aged 9–16, changes. While some may return, there is fierce competition to join, and only about 10% of those who audition get to be part of the final show. However, LCB also conducts significant outreach work, touching many beyond its immediate participants. As a charity, LCB deserves our support — children are our future, and it is right that they are given what can be such life-transforming (and free) training, guided and supported by the best in dance and theatre.

Although I can’t claim to have seen all their shows, this year’s production is the best of the many I’ve seen over the years. Ella’s Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella is based on Shirley Hughes’ book and illustrations and satisfyingly changes Cinderella with a neat plot twist… which I won’t give away! Suffice it to say that we still have a downtrodden (Cinder)Ella, a loving dad, an outrageous stepmother and stepsisters, a Fairy Godmother, a ball, a lost slipper, and a prince, although here he is morphed into a Duke. As the subtitle suggests, it’s all set in the effervescent and design-led 1920s and relocated to a dress shop run by a Mr Cinders. Ella’s best friends are Buttons, the shop lad, and Cat — her ever-present cat. An adaptable set becomes the dress shop, the street outside and the ballroom, all inhabited by swathes of villagers, tradesmen, flower girls, wealthy customers, waitresses, house staff, ball guests, ‘Shoe Hopefuls’ and kittens, to name just a few.

Kristen McNally‘s choreography is a delight, and she keeps the stage interesting and alive with action — important in an 100-minute show, including the interval. What I like is the freehand way McNally often weaves chains of dancers through and around the principal characters; it plays to the natural joie de vivre of the young dancers. Yes, there are moments of storytelling mime, but they are clear to see and mixed in with moments of swaggering fun. A section for boys in the Ball has them doing show-off ballet mini-diverts (cue much applause for each), and I loved the fine wit of a scene where the Duke is trying to find a foot that fits the shoe Ella dropped at the ball — cue a plethora of feet coming every which way at him. In this production, the Fairies are collectively titled ’Magic’, but there is an unmistakable reference to Ashton’s Cinderella Fairies, which looks stunning. I also appreciate how an occasional magic fairy meanders into the action, casting a spell and reminding you this is, after all, a fairy tale. And there’s terrific fun in the ‘birth’ of some kittens too.

The jazzy score by Ian Stephens is supportively perky at the start, but as the ballet progresses, it rather channels the darker tonalities of Prokofiev’s original Cinderella score — it’s a grown-up piece, and I like that.

Ella, danced by Gina Harris-Sullivan, is a calm, assured, and likeable ‘ordinary’ girl with terrific inner strength. Harris-Sullivan is convincing and doesn’t miss a beat in executing some proper soloist ballet movement — it’s a very believable character, and I’m sure we will be seeing more of her in the coming years. Toby Gray’s Buttons is a lovably cheeky character, the friend you all want, and again McNally has included some appropriately impressive jumps and turns. There is fine character and humorous snarly work from the Stepmother (Georgia McBride) and stepsisters (Ailsa Levy and Mbayang Ndiaye). All were enjoyable and worked very well together, but I think Levy has an extra eye for detail, and I will be very interested to see her in a more serious dramatic role. And plaudits too for Caelin Stewart’s stately and benevolent Fairy Godmother and Jude Illing’s romantic, ever-searching and cleanly danced Duke. But truly, this is a group effort full of boundless enthusiasm — a Cinders (in all but name) that will remain long in the memory for its plot and the young telling. I’m sure it’s a production that will return; all involved should be very pleased.

There are two shows tomorrow, Sunday 6 July — so go if you can because your spirits will be uplifted (or elevated if you prefer ChatGPT speak!).