This Cinderella is a delight from start to finish. Choreographer Sheila Styles has rejected the usual Prokofiev music for an orchestrated version of Rossini’s Cinderella opera La Cenerentola and other Rossini works.

It’s full of verve and humour, with lovely slow passages to accompany the more moving moments in the story. The young cast has charm in bucketfuls, and immediately put a smile on my face that hardly left. Michaela Griffin makes a lovable Cinders, romantic but gutsy. She bears no malice towards her stepmother and two stepsisters, mainly watching their antics with an amused smile. Kymberleigh Cowley is the most glamorous Stepmother I have seen, and Jodie McKnight and Sandra Serey Sampedro manage to be bitchy and likeable at the same time. Emily-Joy Smith is a radiant fairy Godmother. Elegant and warm-hearted, she is a lovely young dancer, and avoids the slightly haughty condescension one often sees if this role, while Joshua Barwick looks ardent and princely.

When the clock strikes midnight, there is a touching scene in which Cinderella tenderly takes leave of the Prince, instead of just rushing off.

This is an unashamedly happy telling of the story, with lots of action and enjoyable dancing. An unusual highlight is a long interlude in which the Fairy Godmother takes Cinderella to visit her mother’s grave in the forest. Far from being a sober excursion, this is a light-hearted romp, with Nymphs and Elves, all dressed in autumnal shades with birds’ nest-like headgear.

The cast of 16 dancers all do well, but the show is lit up by Emily-Joy Smith, and even more by Michaela Griffin in the leading role. She transforms easily from the ragged waif banished to the kitchen, to the exuberant princess-to-be of the final pas de deux.