British Sleeping Beauties

[alison]

It struck me this afternoon while watching English National Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty that the UK is fortunate to have 3 very fine productions of The Sleeping Beauty, of similar provenance: Birmingham Royal Ballet's, English National Ballet and the Royal Ballet, all of which have been seen in various parts of the country in the past couple of years.  Leaving aside the dancers in this case, what do you think are the good (and maybe bad) points of each production, and which do you rate the best?

[Odyssey]

I am a great fan of the BRB Sleeping Beauty. I love the Philip Prowse designs with the golden tints and costumes suggesting the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. Wright's decision to have the lilac fairy as a character role has divided opinion and might be regarded as a weakness, but it's logic as a counter to Carabosse as a representative of good , with greater emphasis on the mime works for me.

[alison]

One thing I've realised about ENB's production is that it puts in more of the "character" dances in the hunt scene than the Royal Ballet production does.  Given the amount of people who have complained at them being cut down in the RB version, I'd think this was a distinct point in ENB's favour.  I'm not sure what, if anything, has been sacrificed as a result, though.