|
|
|
|
|
Sumptuous telling of timeless tale
Sleeping
Beauty Moscow
Ballet – La Classique Belgrade
Theatre ****
SLEEPING Beauty is a sumptuous feast for all the senses. It is
traditionally set with amazing costumes, and more. The set is
magnificent, the dancing unbelievable and the music, albeit
pre-recorded, out of this world. Each half of
the programme includes some great vignettes from the principal dancers –
with the Lilac Fairy (Mayya Zaripova) and Princess Aurora (Ekaterina
Shalyapina) featuring strongly. Princess Aurora was such an
amazing dancer and so watchable – in fact I found I couldn’t NOT watch
her – and that I would have wished some of her solos again. Her support
from Prince Florimund (Sergey Kuptsov) – such a difficult role – was
wonderful and really moving. The story had some subtle
differences from the norm but was told really clearly and so was
completely both understandable and believable. Princess Aurora is born to the
king and queen after a long period of waiting and is loved and protected
as much as possible. The fairies at the christening give her all the
charm she needs but the uninvited bad fairy’s curse could lead to her
death. She will prick her finger at 16 and die. The Lilac fairy has hung back to
give her gift and ameliorates matters by reducing the death sentence to
a sleep of a hundred years. All needles are banished but, on Aurora’s
birthday, an old woman appears with a bunch of flowers and a needle
secreted within. Aurora’s sleep passes and the
Lilac Fairy alerts the exceptionally handsome prince that the century of
sleep is coming to a close and he wakes her with a kiss. She wakes the
rest of the court and the jollifications of a great wedding feast get
underway. The production is not without
humour, the second half included some well-known pantomime characters
including Bluebird and Florine, Puss in Boots and White Cat, and Little
Red Riding Hood which were delightful. It is always a delight to see
children enjoying a show and I’m suspecting that some budding ballet
stars were there to watch and learn from some of the best in the world. There’s no other way to say this
– this was a completely wonderful evening, glorious in so many ways and
strictly gorgeous!
The same company is bringing
Swan Lake and Giselle to the Belgrade and other venues 13-15 March 2014. Nov 2013 Jane Howard
|
|
|
|
