Royal Ballet (HD broadcast), 15/12/2011

Tchaikovsky : The Sleeping Beauty

The Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Boris Gruzin

It was rather astonishing to see how fresh this revival of a 1946 production of "Sleeping Beauty" looked.  Of course, I suppose all the costumes and scenery have been completely remade - I doubt very much whether the lace on the men's cuffs was made from paper doilies, as we were told in the pre-show presentation!  Still, the whole thing has worn very well, and the performance itself on the whole was also fresh and charming.

However, it was not perfect by any means.  I thought the female corps de ballet, notably the Lilac Fairy's eight attendants, and the dryads in the Act 2 Vision were distinctly ragged and showing poor ensemble.  This wasn't, fortunately, a consistent problem, other ensembles were much more together.  I wasn't particularly impressed with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's take on the Garland Waltz, at times it seemed almost static

Of the multiplicity of smaller solo roles, I particularly liked Emma Maguire's Fairy of the Golden Vine in the Prologue, and the Bluebird couple of Yuhui Choe and Alexander Campbell, very light and airy (despite an unfortunate mis-step at the end of Variation I).  Claire Calvert's Lilac Fairy, however, was decorative but lacked real presence, which was a pity, because Kristen McNally was enjoying herself as Carabosse, and Calvert really didn't seem to have the authority to put her down efficiently.

Lauren Cuthbertson delivered a very sweet and charming Aurora, which amply compensated for some slight uncertainties on the 'slow' balances.  She's more impressive when presenting quick, deft footwork, and her turn of speed is almost daunting.  Sergei Polunin makes a strong Prince, effortlessly supportive, and really flying across the stage when needed.

Regarding ballet at the cinema, it's the first time I've been to this particular cinema, and maybe it's the installation there that was at fault, but I found that sometimes the lighting seemed insufficient, much detail obscured and, worse still, the sound quality was very two-dimensional.  The orchestral playing came over as pretty routine, and without that extra spark of inspiration.  This is the grandest of grand ballets, but even then, without an inspired orchestra, it can drag a little at times, and it did here and there tonight.   Still, there was magic enough for the season, and I was glad to have seen this production.

[Next event: 20th January, unless I go to see Scottish Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty" over the next couple of weeks.]