The previous tour of The Red Shoes having been cut short due to the Coronovirus pandemic in 2020, the double Olivier award-winning hit production is welcomed to Wales Millennium Centre as part of the 2025/2026 tour.  The show was created ten years ago in 2016 and has since become a firm favourite of the dance theatre repertoire.  The Hans Christian Andersen story, and the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film which followed, provides the narrative foundation upon which the show is centred.

Rising dance star Victoria Page (Hannah Kremer) join the great ballet company Lermontov and is delighted to be cast in The Red Shoes, which tells the story of her dramatic rise, but ultimate downfall, thanks to the power of her mystical shoes.  Caught between loyalty to her career and to ballet impressario Boris Lermontov (Reece Causton) and to her relationship with struggling composer Julian Craster (Leonardo McCorkindale), Vicky faces an impossible choice as life begins to mirror art.

The dancing is, of course, impeccable. Kremer demonstrates extremes of joy and misery in the seamlessness of her movement and expressions. Causton successfully captures the tension of directing a high-performing ballet company and his own inner anxieties and disappointments, and McCorkindale brings warmth and relatability to the role of Craster.   Each member of the cast shines in their ability to in effect mime the story so that the audience grasps the complexities of the “show within a show”.  

The other standout star of the production  is the stage itself.  Dazzling scene changes come thick and fast as we are transported from the ballet theatre (as, at various stages, both audience and backstage onlookers), the bright and cheery seaside resort of Villefranche-sur-Mer, a London music hall, greyscale and monochrome street scenes and dropping in on the leisure activities of the dancers.  Beautifully muted colours grace the stage and the costumes throughout, and this was particularly effective in the Parisien cafe, bringing out the colours of the suspended lanterns splendidly.  After all, nothing could detract from the tragic impact of those red shoes, standing out so fiercly in their primary colour glory against all other shades in the performance. Hats off to set and costume designer Lez Brotherston. 

This is without doubt a truly magnificent show, blending traditional and modern dance, theatrics, humour, visual mastery and  beautiful music.