Rudolf Nureyev’s colourful, “movie-star” version of Prokofiev’s Cinderella retains the classic Perrault story but sets it in America during the difficult years of the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s.

Cinderella - living with her alcoholic father, tyrannical stepmother and two spiteful stepsisters - dreams of escape and stardom in Hollywood. After a promising screen-test during which The Film Star falls head over heels in love with her, she is fearful that her new-found happiness is too good to be true and will vanish with her youth. Fortunately, her magical protector (in the form of The Producer) and her lover move heaven and earth for a ‘happily ever after’ ending.

At once glamorous, funny and romantic, Cinderella is a tribute to the cinema and a hymn to innocence, conveyed by one of Sergei Prokofiev’s most beautiful scores. Le Figaro wrote of the ballet: ‘More than a traditional full-length ballet, Nureyev’s Cinderella is a musical fantasy overflowing with vitality.’

This production, which is being revived at Paris Opera Ballet from Friday 25 November all through to December is available as DVD on the Opus label. Other productions from Paris Opera Ballet available on the Opus Arte label are Balanchine’s Jewels John Neumeier’s La Dame aux Camélias and Nureyev’s take on Swan Lake .