The earliest fairy tales were geared to adults, but today children seem to have taken over the genre in Disney-esque fashion. However, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo's Jean-Christophe Maillot has produced a "Cinderella" that returns this story to the grown-ups without losing its childlike appeal.

Making its debut at the Benedum Center Saturday night and presented by Pittsburgh Dance Council in association with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, this "Cinderella" took two-dimensional characters and gave them a plausible three-dimensional meaning.

Although there was only one dysfunctional family, it resembled "Romeo and Juliet" in the youthful exuberance of the duets between the good-natured Cinderella (suitably danced barefoot by a lovely Nathalie Nordquist) and The Prince (a passionate Asier Uriagereka), who were, in this case, guided toward each other by the Fairy Godmother.

In one brilliant move, Maillot fashioned her out of Cinderella's mother, danced by the remarkably pliable and distinctive Bernice Coppieters. That also suggested a love quadrangle -- Cinderella and her Prince, of course, the love between mother and daughter, a similar relationship between father and daughter, and a bittersweet subtext between Father and The Fairy/mother. It all paid off handsomely in the second act, because it allowed audience members to care for these characters in a relatable way.

Maillot also didn't allow his heroes to simply appear and rescue the heroine; he wants to flesh out a traditionally neglected male character. In this instance, the Prince was at first immature, roughhousing with a quartet of buddies, and an undeniable ball of energy, sometimes charmingly misdirected. Maillot also altered the stepmother and her daughters, making them pretty enough to attract the Father and, well, confuse him enough to create a dramatic tension.

Other changes included a pair of "pleasure Superintendents" and four dress Mannequins who replaced the dance master and violin master and aided in various other sundry things. It forced Maillot to move around some parts of Prokofiev's score, a masterpiece that plays with dark and light in acutely angled ways.

The rhythmic sharpness of the music and the dense harmonies have always been at odds with traditional interpretations of "Cinderella." But Maillot's version fit it like a glove. Those who preferred a straightforward classical mode, with an emphasis on technique, might have been sorely disappointed. Maillot's style put the accent on the purpose behind the movements, which led to a more weighted feel, much like modern dance, and there was an unfettered buffoonery sprinkled throughout that could purposefully distort body lines.

But the lines were cleanly distinct in the set and lighting design, apparently conceived by Maillot (also listed as director) and "advised" by Dominique Drillot. A series of white screens, constructed like abstract pages of a book, were mobile enough to flow from Cinderella's home to a spectacular ship on the high seas and lit in creative ways -- a minimalist confection in this maximist dance world.

Maillot is a choreographic force on the international scene, with a mind that works like a third Grimm brother. His "Cinderella" is a treat to be watched not once upon a time, but to be repeated over and over.