londondance.com
- Graham Watts
Performance: 21 - 24 April 2010
Reviewed: 21 April 2010
It seems so right that Birmingham Royal Ballet should celebrate its 20th Anniversary with Sir Peter Wright’s enhanced revival of The Sleeping Beauty. It was Wright who found a new home in Birmingham for what had been the Sadlers’ Wells Royal Ballet (effectively the Royal Ballet’s touring company). Sadly, ill health cut short his tenure as BRB’s artistic director but the years since his recovery have been filled to the brim with revivals of the many versions of the nineteenth century classics he has staged for ballet companies around the globe.
His Brum-bred production of ‘Beauty’ has an impeccable genealogy; created in 1984, with aristocratic roots derived through the notations smuggled out of revolutionary Russia by Nikolai Sergeyev, almost a century ago, and relating Wright’s Birmingham text in an unbroken family tree back to the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg and the original collaboration of Tchaikovsky (composer) and Petipa (choreographer). For this revival, Sir Peter has “borrowed” an additional pas de deux from the production he made for the Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam, which follows on from the Sleeping Beauty’s awakening by the Prince’s kiss. It works exquisitely to provide a tantalising hors d’oeuvre for their Grand pas de deux in the Final Act.
To my mind Wright’s production is the quintessential interpretation of the triptych of Tchaikovsky’s glorious narrative score, Petipa’s iconic set-pieces and Perrault’s legendary fairy tale: the credit for this accomplishment lies not only in Wright’s adroit and judicious adaptations but also in the glorious grandeur of Philip Prowse’s designs, not least in the effective timelines of fashion he weaves through a splendid, rich palette of costume designs to span the 116 years from Aurora’s christening party to her wedding (allowing, of course, for a century of sleep!). My only criticism of the whole production is the lack of theatrical adventure to match Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Panorama that represents the Prince’s journey to rescue Aurora.
With over 40 defined roles, a ballet company must have a strong roster of dancers to perform The Sleeping Beauty and what impressed me most about the BRB dancers was the strength and clarity of technique in the full range of soloists, followed closely by the tight togetherness of the corps de ballet and group dances. In particular, the third act pas de quatre was admirably danced and I was captivated by the effortless, crisp elegance of Momoko Hirata in the Bluebird pas de deux, not least in the smooth, compact circles of her pirouettes (she can spin on a 5p piece). The Lilac Fairy is a mimed role in Wright’s version (a long gown replacing the more familiar tutu) and it is played here by Andrea Tredinnick in a yin-and-yang co-existence alongside the bad fairy, Carabosse (an arrestingly imperious performance by Marion Tait). Tait excluded, I might have quibbled that the mime was not always projected with sufficient clarity by other artists.
Nao Sakuma was delightful in the title role. She dances with a generally unhurried and understated assurance; there is nothing flashy or overly demonstrative but her lines are always clean and elegant and she, too, pirouettes with a contained yet flowing control. But, as is the case with so many great ballerinas, the Rose Adagio presents her with a mighty challenge and even with the secure rock-like presence of Robert Parker amongst Aurora’s four suitors, Sakuma managed to hold only momentary balances on pointe. Iain Mackay cut a noble figure as the Prince whose kiss awakens the sleeping beauty but he clearly had difficulty sustaining the Grand pas variation without his expression obviously betraying the effort involved. These quibbles aside, however, the Principals made a charming couple.
The golden glitter raining down on the final tableau of the newly-wed Prince and Princess was an appropriate cipher for a majestic triumph that was a great credit to the company, its ballet staff and – above all - Sir Peter Wright: the master restorer who not only laid the foundations for Birmingham’s Royal Ballet but has again breathed new life into ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ just as effectively as any Prince’s kiss.
Performances continue at the London Coliseum until Saturday 24 April
Performance: 21 - 24 April 2010
‘Among solo parts, Laëtitia Lo Sardo, Sonia Aguilar and Carol-Anne Millar were the most effective of the prologue’s fairies, while Momoko Hirata and Joseph Caley gave a neat Bluebird duet.’
Performance: 21 - 24 April 2010
*** "In Sir Peter’s staging, hers [Lilac Fairy (Andrea Tredinnick)] is a mimed role (no tutu, no toe shoes), which makes her a more interesting opposite to the wicked fairy Carabosse (a cracking Marion Tait)"
