A revival of their unique production of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” concludes a most successful 2008-09 performance season for the Minnesota Ballet at the DECC Auditorium this weekend.

The set design by Ann Gumpper is set in Tuscany and features a curtain depicting the climax of “La Cenerentala” done in the style of the Italian High Renaissance. Unique aspects of the production include a kindly stepmother and an actual goddess as the fairy godmother (both played by Amanda Abrahamson).

Suzanne Kritzberg, who danced the title role Saturday night, is simply the crown jewel of the Twin Ports artistic community. Her Cinderella dances virtually throughout the entire first act, highlighted by a charming dance with a broom as she dreams of attending the ball.

I swear that when she lifts her leg into the air, you can tell it is several degrees higher than any other ballerina on the stage, and the crowd never fails to roar when she takes her curtain call with her signature old-school curtsey.

This ballet is noted for the hilarious stepsisters, considered “more mad than bad.” Robert Gard­ner as Maligna always does these comedic roles with great relish, and this season has a new partner in crime with Jacob Effinger as Goffa. The pair provided laughs throughout the evening, topped off at the end by dealing with a slipper that is way too small.

If you are familiar with the 50 pieces of music that Prokofiev wrote for this ballet, then you will be aware that choreographer Allen Fields has crafted a unique version in terms of who dances what to which particular bit of music.

The audience, well versed in every last note of every piece in the “Nutcracker,” was less sure of where to applaud in this production. Yosuke Yamamoto’s turns and spins as the prince in the second act provoked the evening’s first bursts of applause during the dancing.

The flexibility of rhythm and phrase structure in Prokofiev’s music is well suited to ballet and unlike Tchaikovsky, I find my attention focused more on the dancers. Copious notes in the program detail the action, but the pantomime skills of the dancers are more than equal to the task.

My only complaint as a novice balletomane is that once the ballet slipper fits, I was expecting Cinderella and her prince to pas de deux their way to happily ever after. Still, the ending has its inherent charm and contains my favorite moment from the Disney version, when Cinderella produces the other slipper.

Final note: The roles of Cinderella and the Prince will be danced by Kaori Takai and Igor Burlak at Sunday’s matinee performance.