Normally if I think a show is bad, I don't write or talk about it at all. But this production was so ridiculously below my expectation of ROH's standard I have to write about it here, albeit briefly.
Although I have never studied ballet and do not know much about the technique or the discipline of the dancers, as a regular audience of ROH and dance performances in general I can make out what is good and what is not. And in that aspect, The Sleeping Beauty did not disappoint me, at least in the technical sense. The Aurora of the night was Marianela Nuñez, and every move she made was was done to a painstaking perfection despite the infamously demanding choreography. The audience went wild with every scene with her appearance.
However, for me at least, that was the only good part of this production. They have brought back the 1946 production from the archive, and I guess it has it's own merits in that it's traditional and safe for a family-friendly, crowd-gathering, big-name production like this. However, to be very frank, I thought the design was mediocre, and the characters appalling. There weren't enough chemistry between the prince and the princess; what the hell was so good about your daughter falling asleep for god-knows-how-long that the queen kept smiling?; What happened to the wicked fairy that she's lost all evilness altogether and turned into a pantomimist? The costume was lame, and she did not have any presence or charisma that, at least according to what I believe, the evil fairy must have. (And those rat-soldiers have not been recycled from last year's 'Nutcracker', right?)
The worst of them all was the wedding scene at the end, where all sorts of random fairy-tale characters jump out to do everlasting duet/solo performances. Yes, yes, I know it is part of the original choreography, but good god... It was so long and tedious it would've made a 9-year-old in the row above yawn with frustration. What was the original director/choreographer thinking when they made this? After passing the really crucial storyline in a strangely speedy, weightless, carefree manner, it felt ridiculous to spend so long a time (almost an entire Act, it seemed) on unimportant randomness that has nothing to do with the storyline. But then I'm a stickler when it comes to the storytelling aspect of a performance, so maybe it was just me and everyone else enjoyed it.
I read the review some time ago - was it Evening standard?- saying it is one of those guaranteed-to-sell shows ROH is forced to put on to get the crowd and the cash in for other more avant-garde productions composed throughout the year.. HOW TRUE was this comment. I cannot disagree more with the rave reviews it has been garnering (The Independence gave it a 3-star, which is by far the lowest rating from major reviews, but I think that was generous enough) but if I considered as a production for the whole family and the general public who rarely go to see ballet, I think it probably deserves the ratings it got. After all, what do I know? Maybe I relied too much upon the Disney's depiction of the story, Aurora being my 'favourite Disney princess'.
Yes, the one with the innocent peasant princess, paired with
a (very modern!) humorous and cheeky prince
...and the elegant, charismatic but downright EVIL queen, Malificent
(who scared the hell out of me when I was young)
And the beautiful designs by the legendary artist Eyvind Earle
Yes, I admit, this was my expectation... so it was really my fault, haha.
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