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Birmingham Royal Ballet starts a lengthy run of Sir Peter Wright's handsome production of Sleeping Beauty, tonight in Southampton. Please do post any thoughts here.

The dates for BRB's Spring Tour have appeared on the website: https://www.brb.org.uk/shows/the-sleeping-beauty I think Southampton and Birmingham had already been announced. Mayflower Theatre, Southampton - 08-10 February 2024 Hippodrome, Birmingham - 21 February - 02 March 2024 The Lowry, Salford - 06-09 March 2024 Empire, Sunderland - 14-16 March 2024 Theatre Royal, Plymouth - 20-23 March 2024

if you have a ticket that you can no longer use, please PM and leave a message. many thanks

Naghdi/Ball/Magri/McNally Please PM me and leave a message if you'd like this ticket

I’d love a SCS ticket for this performance. If anyone has one available please let me know Thanks Peter

I’m looking for a central Stalls Circle or Balcony standing for Friday 12th May. I’d also be happy with a ticket share as I’m mainly interested in seeing the Prologue. Thanks for any leads.

Unlikely I know, but if anyone can’t make it this evening I’d love to buy a ticket (prefer not standing). Thank you.

If anyone has a spare SCS for this performance please message me. Thanks Peter

I'm looking for a central Stalls Circle standing or central Balcony standing for Saturday 11th Feb 7pm, please. If anyone has a spare, I'd be happy to give it a good home. Many thanks

i can no longer attend on this date. SCS d15. face value £12. please leave a message & DM me if interested.

I can’t find any previous reference to this on the forum nor BRB website, but the Mayflower this afternoon is awash with flyers.

i can no longer attend on this date. fantastic SCS standing, centre block, unrestricted view. face value £12. please DM me if interested.

i can no longer attend on this date. SCS standing d33, centre block, unrestricted view. face value £12. DM me and leave a message here please.

Rather surprised to read in this article that Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake are described as “Western ballets” Article from The Gothamist in links 13.7.22 https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/at-american-ballet-theatre-a-star-choreographer-with-ties-to-russia-and-ukraine-processes-the-war-with-his-art

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty arrived at the Lowry tonight after its world premiere in Plymouth last week. It is described as a Gothic Romance and Lez Brotherston's sets and costumes are lavishly gothic and utterly fabulous and really set the scene. Our Sleeping Beauty is born in 1890 (the prologue) and comes of age (and is sent to sleep ) in 1911. The reawakening takes place in 2011. I don't want to ruin everyone's voyage of discovery by disclosing that "the butler did it" but I will say that the opening scenes with the baby Aurora are just brilliant. There are six fairies - 3 men and 3 women. Lilac is Count Lilac. Carabosse is only in the prologue and the dark fairy role is then taken over by her son Caradoc (played by the same dancer). I just LOVED the fairy costumes. The solos for the six fairies gave a tantalising hint of the Petipa choreography we all know and love - especially the 5th and 6th variations. There isn't a rose adagio but there is a lovely duet for Aurora and a gardener to that music. The "pricking of the thumb" is achieved by a rose, which makes perfect sense. There are several twists to the standard story which I won't reveal except to say that it all ends happily! Matthew Bourne certainly knows how to put a show together and on first viewing this has become one of my favourites! It has similarly sly references to royalty as those contained in Swan Lake and there are some fun scenes at Aurora's party (which takes the form of a garden party with tennis). I felt a degree of sympathy with Caradoc which I do not usually feel for Carabosse in more conventional productions. Tonight we saw Hannah Vassallo as Aurora, Dominic North as Leo, Chrisopher Marney as Count Lilac and Ben Bunce as Carabosse/Caradoc. Both Ben Bunce and Christopher Marney had enormous stage presence and really seemed to be manipulating the action. Hannah Vassallo and Dominic North were sublime in their roles. What more can I say - I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

Does anyone know the names given to the five fairies (ie excluding the Lilac Fairy) in the first performances of The Sleeping Beauty in St Petersburg in 1890, or is able to refer me to a webpage or whatever that gives the names. I've tried to find out and have come across the following names for fairies one to five: the Tender fairy, the Playful, the Generous, the Brave, the Carefree (presumably these names relate to the gifts they brought, ie tenderness, playfulness, etc), but I need to know whether these names are correct. Thank you.

If anyone went to see The Golden Age today and wants to discuss, please use this thread. Thanks.

I just watched the program and really enjoyed (the majority) of it! Here's my thoughts, if you're interested

This program of The Sleeping Beauty prologue and Abrazo, a premiere by Nayon Iovino, got me wondering if, at a time when dancers' faces must be partially covered, choosing repertory that leans more toward control than abandon is such a prudent choice. More thoughts here in my review.

The Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty Although my only qualification is enthusiasm, I lead a ballet appreciation group and recently sent the following to members. Thought it might interest Forum members. In the last Act of The Sleeping Beauty Puss-in-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood appear, these characters being from Charles Perrault’s fairytales, published in 1697. The Act also includes the Bluebird and Princess Florine. Although I’ve seen the ballet many times I’ve not understood why a Bluebird and a Princess Florine appear. Having watched various parts of the recent streaming by the Royal Opera House ­– I enjoyed Fumi Kaneko’s performance as Aurora – I turned to the internet to find out about these two characters, having only come across bluebirds flying over Judy Garland’s rainbow. Evidently, in mythology, the bluebird is a sign of happiness, prosperity, good health, and the arrival of Spring, the blue plumage being associated with the sky and eternal happiness. I found what I consider a possible connection between a bluebird and the ballet in Wikipedia’s ‘The Blue Bird (fairy tale)’. This fairy tale was published by Baroness d’Aulnoy in 1697 (the same year Perrault published his stories), the Baroness being the person who in 1690 first coined the phrase ‘fairytale’. Very briefly the plot is: widower King, who has beautiful daughter Princess Florine, marries not very nice widowed Queen who has ugly, selfish daughter Truitonne. Visiting the kingdom, Prince Charming falls in love with Florine, Queen and daughter do all they can to prevent Prince Charming and Princess Florine marrying so that he marries Truitonne instead, and as a last resort Truitonne’s fairy godmother turns the Prince into a bluebird. But all ends happily ever after for the Prince and Princess Florine. So, perhaps an explanation of why the Bluebird and Princess Florine appear in the ballet. As a child Aurora would have known this story along with those of Puss-In-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. To round off, back to Judy Garland’s song, the second verse: Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, Why then, oh why can’t I? If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow, Why, oh why can’t I? In the film The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is told by her Aunt to find a place where she won’t get into more trouble. Dorothy muses, ‘is there a place where there isn’t any trouble?’. Thinking there must be, but you cannot get there by a boat or a train, she imagines such a place being ‘far, far away ... beyond the rainbow’. At their wedding to their Prince, both Princess Florine and Princess Aurora would of course be ‘over the rainbow’ with happiness.

An unexpected (given their scheduling) pleasure to have O'Sullivan/Hay dance the General Rehearsal today I didn't catch all the cast changes, can anyone confirm who danced the Fairy of the Crystal Fountain ?

I know that this run still has a week to go before opening night but I thought some may enjoy reading my interview with Delia Mathews as she prepares to make her debut as Aurora alongside Brandon Lawrence. http://tothepointemagazine.wixsite.com/tothepointemagazine/single-post/2018/01/27/ToThePointe-Meets-Delia-Mathews xx

There's a very interesting sub-discussion developed in the current Royal Ballet Sleeping Beauty thread, and I don't think it deserves to get swallowed up in there, so here are some of the highlights: Betterankles posted an excerpt of the Lilac Fairy from Maina Gielgud's production here - I couldn't persuade it to copy over:

Please PM me and leave a message here if you can help. Thanks

I’ve a spare SCS (D29) for Sleeping Beauty (Naghdi/Ball) Thursday 14/11 available. Paper ticket but I’ll be there both Weds & Thursday to hand it over. £11 DM me if interested.