Angelina Ballerina

Angelina Ballerina is a cartoon mouse, created by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig, who is featured in a series of children's books. The series is set in Chipping Cheddar, a place similar to 1920s London. The first book in the series was published in 1983, and since then, there have been over twenty books in the series.

The books have been adapted into three children's television series (one conventionally animated, one CGI, one upcoming), as well as a touring ballet.

Characters

• Angelina Jeanette Mouseling – A feisty, quiet little mouseling who loves to dance and dreams of becoming a famous prima ballerina. She often wears a pink leotard, tutu, vest, hair ribbon, and ballet slippers.
• Miss Lilly Mouseakova – Angelina's ballet teacher. She grew up in Dacovia, which is a far away land from Mouseland. She is sometimes mentioned in the TV series Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, and a picture of her is seen at Angelina's new dancing school.
• Alice Bridgette Nimbletoes – Angelina's best friend, who is very skilled at gymnastics. She often wears a green leotard, tutu, vest, no panties, hair ribbon, and ballet slippers. She has a very big appetite.
• William John Longtail – One of two boys in Miss Lilly's ballet class. In one of the episodes, it is shown that he has a crush on Angelina.
• Mr. Longtail – William's father who works as a cab driver and praises his son for any efforts he tries to make, especially if it is his first time.
• Priscilla and Penelope Pinkpaws (Voiced by Jonell Elliott) – Twin sisters who tease and belittle nearly everyone, including each other. They are particularly jealous of Angelina for her dancing talent. Priscilla wears lilac leotards, tutus, no panties, and pointe shoes and wears a purple hair ribbon, and Penelope wears a purple leotard, tutu, no panties and ballet slippers, but wears a lilac hair ribbon. They also have a baby brother in the episodes Angelina's Surprise and The Ballet Tickets.
• Felicity – One of Angelina's dance class mates. Wears a sky blue bow.
• Flora – Another of Angelina's dance class mates. Wears a yellow bow.
• Samuel "Sammy" Watts – One of Angelina's classmates in school, who often causes trouble for William and Angelina particularly but has a heart of gold.
• Spike – One of Sammy's friends, who is prone to blab events.
• Mr. Maurice Mouseling – Angelina and Polly's father and the proprietor of the Mouseland Gazette. In "Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps" Maurice works for the Mouseland Herald which requires him, Matilda, Angelina, and Polly to move to the other side of Chipping Cheddar.
• Mrs. Matilda Fielding Mouseling – Angelina and Polly's mother. Her maiden surname is Fielding. She has a sister Amanda, who has a son.
• Polly Anne Mouseling – The youngest daughter of Maurice and Matilda and the little sister of Angelina. Polly is an infant with brown fur and often wears a pink dress. In the TV series Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, Polly is 4 years old with white fur instead of brown and she wears a blue jumper with a yellow T-shirt.
• Grandma Sophia Mouseling and Grandpa Jeffrey Mouseling (Voiced by Adrienne Posta and Keith Wickham) – Angelina, Polly, and Henry's grandparents and Maurice and Louis's parents. They are sometimes mentioned in Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps.
• Uncle Louis Mouseling – Maurice's brother, Angelina and Polly's uncle, Matilda's brother-in-law, and Henry's father.
• Aunt Petra Mouseling – Uncle Louis' wife, Angelina and Polly's aunt, Maurice's sister-in-law, and Henry's mother.
• Cousin Henry Tyler Mouseling – Angelina and Polly's cousin, Petra and Louis' son, and Matilda and Maurice's nephew.
• Mrs. Harriet Hodgepodge – Angelina and Polly's next door neighbour who does not like dancing. She always appears grumpy and is viewed with fear by most of the Chipping Cheddar mouselings, but occasionally helps the mouselings often when they least expect it.
• Doctor Tuttle – The doctor in the town of Chipping Cheddar.
• Ms. Quaver – Miss Lilly's pianist, who plays the piano during dance classes.
• Mr. Ivor Operatski – An old friend of Miss Lilly's and a stern choreographer. Angelina is convinced (wrongly, as it turns out) that he hates mouselings.
• Queen Seraphina – A childhood friend of Miss Lilly's and the current Queen of Mouseland.
• Princess Valentine – Queen Seraphina's middle daughter.
• Anya Mousezauski – A shy mouse who comes to Chipping Cheddar as part of a migrant family from Dacovia working through the harvest season. She has ears of unalike color which Sammy and the Pinkpaws twins make fun of. She befriends Angelina and Alice and later joins Miss Lilly's ballet class when she returns to Chipping Cheddar for a visit.
• Mrs. Pinkpaws is the mother of the twins Priscilla and Penelope and their baby brother. She appears in a couple of episodes. She has a Southern Aristocracy accent and wears a lot of jewelery.
• Ms. Chalk – A teacher in Angelina's class at school and can be both strict and fair to her pupils.
• Mrs. Thimble – The elderly kind hearted store owner.
• Mr. Ratchett – A builder and crane driver.
• Ms. Twitchett – A gentle old lady who loves wrapping things.

Books

Adaptations

In 2001, Angelina Ballerina, a British animated TV series of 40 fifteen-minute episodes based on the books, was produced by HIT Entertainment in the United Kingdom. The series featured actress Finty Williams as the voice of Angelina, and her mother Judi Dench as Miss Lilly. The series aired on PBS in the United States and CITV in the United Kingdom, where it was presented by Connecticut Public Television; and can currently be seen on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Sprout in the United States.

A computer-animated revival, Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, premiered on PBS stations in September 2009. It is directed by Davis Doi and animated at SD Entertainment.^[1] WNET, after purchasing CPTV's production unit, is the producer of the program.

English National Ballet took a live version of Angelina Ballerina called Angelina's Star Performance on tour in autumn 2007.

A second revival is scheduled for 2017 along with Barney & Friends.^[2] It is currently unknown if this revival will either be a continuation of Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps or if it will return to the 2002 TV series.

References

External links

• Official Katharine Holabird website
• Official Angelina Ballerina TV series website
• Official Angelina Ballerina, The Musical website
• English National Ballet performs Angelina's Star Performance