Center Stage

Writer Carol Heikkinen and director Nicholas Hytner take us backstage at a ballet school for a look at the sweat, tears, hard work and giddy joy that go into putting on a show. Heikkinen’s script has no surprises and the story unfolds in conventional fashion, but Hytner gives it style in abundance. He’s aided greatly by Susan Stroman and Christopher Wheeldon’s vigorous, exhilarating choreography and the fact that all his young stars (Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Susan May Pratt, Ethan Stiefel, Sascha Radetsky) do their own dancing, giving the film a charge that all the MTV-style editing in the world can’t duplicate. Showing the youngsters the ropes are veterans Peter Gallagher as the Academy’s artistic director and Donna Murphy (in the film’s most richly textured performance) as his lead teacher.