In your opinion, what is the best ever production of the Sleeping Beauty?

[CHazell2]

Hi

 

Sorry if this topic has been done before but with the current run of Sleeping Beauty has set me thinking.

 

What should be considered the best production of Sleeping Beauty ever done and why do you think that? Was it the dancers, the choreographical text or the scenery? Please feel free to give your thoughts on this. I do realise that for most people on here, the Messel production is considered to be the best ever - if so, why is that. Should the Royal Ballet keep that production for ever?

 

Also one final question - if you ever got the chance to produce the ballet yourself - how would you do it? 

Edited February 24, 2017 by CHazell2

[CHazell2]

Hi

 

Sorry if this topic has been done before but with the current run of Sleeping Beauty has set me thinking.

 

What should be considered the best production of Sleeping Beauty ever done and why do you think that? Was it the dancers, the chorographical text or the scenery? Please feel free to give your thoughts on this. I do realise that for most people on here, the Messel production is considered to be the best ever - if so, why is that. Should the Royal Ballet keep that production for ever?

 

Also one final question - if you ever got the chance to produce the ballet yourself - how would you do it? 

 

Sorry, I just thought of two more questions?

 

1) What Royal Ballet productions have you seen of the Sleeping Beauty, besides the current one. What were your opinion on them?

2) Why does the Sleeping Beauty have this reputation as the greatest classical ballet, why not Swan Lake or any other ballet?

Edited February 24, 2017 by CHazell2

[Two Pigeons]

I think Sleeping Beauty has what is recognised as the finest ballet score ever written. History and tradition have made it the 'signature' classic of the Royal Ballet. This probably rests on the fact that it was Beauty which was given to reopen the Opera House and then for the opening night in New York. Certainly it was the role that was linked to Fonteyn more than any other.

 

My first memory of it was the production designed by David Walker which was premiered in the mid to late 70s. I remember that production with affection but I am more familiar with the Peter Wright one for SWRB/BRB. I would love to have seen the RB production by Sir Fred and Peter Wright, especially with Sibley and Dowell.

 

Too many of the Russian productions I have seen may have had wonderful dancing but the continual clashing of primary colours has always distracted me.

 

I do wonder if much of its popularity in the West is because it has an upbeat ending whereas Swan Lake doesn't. It is a work I am not hugely keen on, not least as it seems to go on for days. I always say to parents never take your child to see it because it is far too long and they will be bored.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Two Pigeons

[nickwellings]

I find myself thinking back (and not too far!) To Ratmansky's attempt at a more 'authentic' (a very fraught term...) SB. I like it for costumes, narrative and its choreographic experiments. Whether in its attempt at reclamation of imagined ballet past is accurate, who knows, but I liked it each time I saw it.

[CHazell2]

I find myself thinking back (and not too far!) To Ratmansky's attempt at a more 'authentic' (a very fraught term...) SB. I like it for costumes, narrative and its choreographic experiments. Whether in its attempt at reclamation of imagined ballet past is accurate, who knows, but I liked it each time I saw it.

 

I think that that the Ratmansky production has fair claim to be authentic as it has several passages that are quite similar to the Royal Ballet's earlier productions and Alexei Ratmansky has said that he had studied the notations. One of the glories of that production for me was the Vision scene -- so magical and romantic - it even had the shell balancing.

 

I don't think that they completely restored the Bakst scenery which was a shame as it was supposed to be magnificent.

Edited February 24, 2017 by CHazell2

[nickwellings]

I liked for instance, the lined up little troubadours, the more demure lifts, Lilac fairy on a stool, and the spectacle of the Garland dance. Fullington and Ratmanskys used the Stepanov notation as much as possible but as they admit, they had to guess at certain details. Even so it is more of a flavour of 'how it was' than many other productions are. Some enjoy that and some may not. I have not seen the mammoth Kirov version which seemed to have vanished from their rep, which also mined the Sergeyev collection.

[CHazell2]

I liked for instance, the lined up little troubadours, the more demure lifts, Lilac fairy on a stool, and the spectacle of the Garland dance. Fullington and Ratmanskys used the Stepanov notation as much as possible but as they admit, they had to guess at certain details. Even so it is more of a flavour of 'how it was' than many other productions are. Some enjoy that and some may not. I have not seen the mammoth Kirov version which seemed to have vanished from their rep, which also mined the Sergeyev collection.

 

I saw that Kirov production when it was on at the ROH in the summer of 2001, I was doing my GCSES and Dad took me to London to see it.

 

I can honestly say that I have never forgotten that production - it was so magical, costumes and the scenery was wonderful, especially the end of Act 1 when the Lilac Fairy puts the castle to sleep. Sveltana Zakharova was dancing Aurora - lucky me.

 

One of the things that I remember is the curtain rising on the Prologue and you felt that you were watching a wonderful tableau of the court entering to that March. you really felt that you were watching a fairytale.

Edited February 24, 2017 by CHazell2

[Bruce Wall]

I wholeheartedly agree with Janet McNulty on her preference for SPW's SB for BRB.  As far as I am concerned - or at least in my experience - it is - for me - the best over SB production available in the current balletic reps in this country.  

[Odyssey]

I too share a high regard for SPW's production for BRB. Initially I recall being sceptical about his decision to make the Lilac Fairy a character role, (not his original idea) but now it makes perfect sense in relation to Carabosse - their shared curtain calls are always a joy. I love the design and spectacle of the final act and the fairy tale costumes are also my favourites.

 

Sleeping Beauty was the second ballet I attended and it captivated me as a child ( with the delectable partnership of Doreen Wells and David Wall when the Royal Ballet used to tour to such outposts as Coventry Hippodrome!) Now, as a 'mature' adult I still find much to both revel in and admire. It is a touchstone for the classical repertory and a suitable signature piece for the Royal Ballet.

[Fonty]

Well, although I like SPW's production, I can't agree with the idea that it is better to have a non dancing Lilac Fairy.  The woman wandering around in an elaborate evening gown doesn't seem to have any connection to the other fairies.  I just think it is a waste of some gorgeous music, personally.  

[Don Q Fan]

I really loved Malakhov's SB at Staats Ballett Berlin it was just gorgeous. Ratmansky's SB for ABT is also lovely but my fave is Berlin's.

[Pas de Quatre]

Although I cannot now remember many details off the top of my head, (I would have to search for the programme) one of the most memorable I have seen was Paris Opera Ballet in the mid 1970s. Before Mitterand's pyramid was built, POB used to have an open air season in the courtyard of the Louvre every summer. It was the perfect setting!

[betterankles]

And noone seems to remember Raymonda Larrain's opulent production for the Marquis de Cueva company, staged by Bronislava Nijinska and I think Robert Helpman - the first Western production in which Rudolf Nureyev appeared as both Bluebird and Prince Desiree...

It ran for several MONTHS at the Theatre des Champs Elysees.

Auroras were Rosella Hightower, Nina Vyroubova, if memory serves me, also Genya Melikova and maybe Lyane Dayde in a second run - also Marilyn Jones later with Garth Welch as her Prince

Princes were Rudolf Nureyev, Serge Golovine - and I don't remember the others.... Later George Goviloff

Perhaps little known - that Marcia Haydee was a 3rd Fairy in the original production. I can't remember what their names were in this production.

Nijinska choreographed an original vision scene solo for Aurora, which was based on Hightower's amazing hovering balances and musicality.

The sets and costumes were extravagant both in look and cost!

[Jan McNulty]

As none of us are old enough to go back far enough to consider all the productions of Sleeping Beauty I can only state my favourite production, which is, by a long way, SPW's for BRB.

 

Of the comparatively few productions I have seen I also greatly enjoyed Ronald Hynd's production for ENB.

 

The two productions I have liked least were Makarova's for the RB and David Nixon's A Sleeping Beauty Tale.

[FLOSS]

It has come as a bit of a shock to discover just how many different productions of the Sleeping Beauty I have seen. My first Royal Ballet production was the Peter Wright 1968 production which I caught just before it was scrapped.Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not understand what was wrong with it. I had read Oleg Kerensky's Listener article in which he took two pages to describe what was wrong with Lila de Nobili's designs. According to him the bell shaped tutus were deeply controversial because while appropriate for a romantic ballet  they were deemed wholly inappropriate for a classical ballet, I can now see that Lila de Nobili's gothick style sets must have come as a shock to those who had grown up with the 1946 production. But at the time I enjoyed it for the dancing.

 

In 1973 MacMillan staged his own production for the company which I believe was based on his staging for Berlin.It was designed by Peter Farmer and I don't think that it was much liked. I seem to recall that the Prologue looked as if it was taking place at the bottom of swimming pool. This version got rid of the Three Ivans who had been part of the English performing tradition since Diaghilev's 1921 London production and gave us  a new solo for Wayne Sleep "Hop O'My Thumb" set to the music for Simple Ivan and his Brothers.

 

The de Valois production of 1977 was seen by many as a return to the company's traditional text and its performing tradition. MacMillan said that it was when he discovered that de Valois was staging a new production that he knew that his directorship was over.The only criticism of the production that I recall was of the designs by David Walker which were not thought to be sufficiently grand. Although there were signs in performance that the company was not what it had once been only a short time before. It must have had a lot going for it as it survived into the 1990's only losing the Awakening pas de deux and the Three Ivans both of which had been part of the text in its first season.

 

The text of the Dowell production was not that bad although I did not like the Jewel Variations of the third act. What let this production down were the bizarre designs by Bjornson and the overall quality of the company's dancing. There were some good Auroras but you had to endure a great deal of dancing that was inadequate. Sleeping Beauty, for me at least, is a complete package not a one role ballet I began to wonder whether the designs had been carefully crafted to distract the audience from some of what was happening on stage.

 

The Dowell production was in turn replaced by Makarova's 2003 production. This was essentially Konstantin Sergeyev 1952 Kirov production. It was the version which she knew and had grown up with,but it ignored local performing tradition. It felt like an attempt to graft the Soviet classical style which is more Petipa than Petipa ever managed to be,on to the company and it did not take as far as much of the audience was concerned.The little cupid figure in particular being heartily disliked.

 

In 2006 this was replaced by the Mason production, essentially a return to the 1946 production with designs by Peter Farmer inspired by Messel but with costumes in weak pastel colours..This production has now acquired costumes which use the stronger palette of the original Messel designs.As far as I am concerned the company are still growing into it. It is a production in the grand style which requires something more than small scale, careful and genteely polite dancing that so many dancers brought to it in its early years.

 

 

I have also seen Sir Peter Wright's production for BRB.I think its designs are quite brilliant as they enable a company with somewhere in the region of sixty dancers to fill the stage in a way which suggests opulence. However I am not convinced by the non dancing Lilac Fairy nor by much of the choreographic text used for the divertisements in the third act.It is interesting to see it from time to time but I would not want it as my main or only version. I have also seen both Nureyev's staging for the ENB and that for La Scala at least two stagings for the Bolshoi and two for the Kirov/ Mariiinsky.Of all of these i think that the Vikharev reconstruction was the most interesting and the latest Grigorovitch staging this least interesting being little more than an evocation of Petipa' ballet. The reconstruction on the other hand was an extraordinary enterprise and a very controversial one as it challenged the claims made for the authenticity of the Mariinsky's traditional  1952 version. The attempt to restore both choreographic text as recorded thirteen years after its premiere and the original designs which take the audience from the Fontainbleau of Francis I to the Versailles of Louis XIV and the age of absolutism was fascinating.It would be wonderful if the company could bring itself to issue a DVD of this production even though the enterprise was somewhat undermined by being performed in modern style with the musical distortions which are required to accommodate high extensions and so on..

 

Of all the productions which I have seen I have found the Ratmansky reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty for ABT the most  intriguing. It was a real breath of fresh air with the score taken at a speed that both the choreographer and composer might recognise with no musical distortion of the score to accommodate high extensions and interminable Olympic style balances. In this production the dancers were forced to fall back on style and nuance rather than raw displays of virtuoso technique. In this staging with its low classical arabesques the dancers  seemed to be a  company with a shared style rather than a company from here and everywhere in which each dancer is trying to stand out by displays of virtuosity however inappropriate they might be. In this version it seemed to me that the dancers were forced to fall back on displaying and developing their artistry. The other great thing about this production is it gives the audience the opportunity to see a staging of  Petipa's Garland dance which in itself would have been sufficient justification for staging this revival. It is another one of those big production numbers, which appear to have been a Petipa speciality, in which the stage is filled with dancers both adult and children who do not have that many steps but who are constantly moved around the stage until the final tableau. It is an extraordinary introduction to the first act, displaying Petipa's skills with large numbers of dancers before the ballerina displays her artistry and skill in the Rose Adagio. 

 

If I could only see one production I would happily settle for the 1977 production largely because it incorporated more of the Hunt scene than we see today and it had a diorama for the boat journey. In addition de Valois was strict about the height of  arabesques and would not countenance high extensions which meant there were no musical distortions to accommodate dancer's foibles.Having said that the company finally seems to be developing dancers who deserve to be on stage in the current production in the minor roles as well as the major ones so perhaps i will stick with the current version on the understanding that the music continues to be performed at the right speed and the dancers keep on improving until they fill out the entire production.

Edited February 28, 2017 by FLOSS

[Geoff]

I am extremely partial to the 1955 NBC recording of the Sadler's Wells production, reduced though it is, if only for a Fonteyn performance and Beryl Grey's miraculous Lilac Fairy variation. It is currently on YouTube, in sections, starting from here:-

 

[Fonty]

Geoff, I think that is the same clip that I posted on another Sleeping Beauty thread, where I made a comparison between the speed of the Lilac Fairy's variation then, and how much it has been slowed down.  Nearly half the speed, in some current productions, although when I went to the ROH last week, the conductor had certainly upped the speed.  Still nowhere near the one shown in this clip, though.  Shame, really, because the choreographer here seems swift and powerful, rather than turgid.  Nobody really commented much on it when I posted, which surprised me a bit, but maybe I put the clip in the wrong thread!

[FLOSS]

Fonty,

I got the impression that some of the dancers were struggling with the faster tempi which the Music Director introduced when the run of Beauty resumed after Christmas. They now seem to have adjusted to the tempi set by the conductor and we can always hope that at the next revival he might speed it up a bit more. The text of the Lilac Fairy's choreography in the recording is fascinating but I don't think that all the differences are attributable to the slower speeds that we have become used to seeing.It is not just the speed and phrasing that are different, some of the finer detail particularly of the epaulement is different from what we see now although much of that difference may be attributable to Grey's expansiveness  and breadth of gesture which give her performance a grandeur  which has been lacking, for me at least, since Mason and Bergsma stopped dancing it. A technically deficient Lilac Fairy, like Porter, however benevolent, beneficent and charming she may be, just does not bring enough command, presence and grandeur to the role. But at least Porter did not behave as if she had no confidence in herself and had no real right to be on the stage in the role.  

 

This American recording was made before the West had much contact with the major Russian companies and their recent performing tradition of the ballet and long before those companies had had any real contact with the the Western ballet tradition and Balanchine in particular.I know that years ago I read an account of the Royal's first Russian tour in which it was said that older ballet goers in Leningrad had told company dancers that they had once had a production of Sleeping Beauty like the one the company had brought on tour. At the time I had wondered at the retentive memory of these ballet goers assuming that the Kirov production had been substantially revised soon after the Revolution rather than in 1952.

 

I can't help wondering just how much cross fertilisation there has been between the two performing traditions. Just how much did seeing the Kirov's production by Konstantin Sergeyev and Nureyev's knowledge of it influence the text and performance of the Fairy Variations and the Royal's idea of what classical dance and these roles should look like? How much of what we see now is Ashton inspired and how much is the effect of the influence of people who began to believe that true classical dance could never be odd or quirky and had to be almost abstract in its purity? When I saw the Ratmansky reconstruction its family connection with the Royal's version was clear but there were plenty of occasions on which the focus of the two was different.The Prince's variation in act 3 was very different from anything which I have ever seen anyone perform at Covent Garden and is full of fast footwork and petite batterie. 

 

The text for that variation as currently performed at Covent Garden has altered quite a bit since the recording of Blair dancing it. But even the version danced by Blair is closer in style to the Soviet/ early twentieth century with its vocabulary of jetes and steps of elevation than it is to a late nineteenth century variation based on petite batterie.I  have always assumed that the changes which bring us to the version currently performed at Covent Garden are attributable to Nureyev's influence. I seem to recall reading, probably in Dance and Dancers, about other textual changes. such as stories of dancers going off to perform with the old Touring Company who on returning to Covent Garden would discover that one or other of the Fairy Variations was now danced differently. 

 

Whatever the textual changes the ballet has undergone over the years it would be nice to think that the company may eventually get back to dancing all of it at the right speed. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by FLOSS

[MAB]

Hi

 

Sorry if this topic has been done before but with the current run of Sleeping Beauty has set me thinking.

 

What should be considered the best production of Sleeping Beauty ever done and why do you think that? Was it the dancers, the choreographical text or the scenery? Please feel free to give your thoughts on this. I do realise that for most people on here, the Messel production is considered to be the best ever - if so, why is that. Should the Royal Ballet keep that production for ever?

 

Also one final question - if you ever got the chance to produce the ballet yourself - how would you do it? 

 

The Messel production was the first I saw, I remember it having grandeur but little real magic.  The current RB production is supposed to be based on it and although I can see a couple of design similarities, it is a very poor imitation.  My all time favourite RB version was the Wright/Ashton one with it's stunning sets and costumes that I still find ravishing after looking up colour pictures in  old books this morning.  It remains for me the benchmark of what can be achieved when the production team shares a vision and when the muse looks on and grants her blessing.  Amongst the casts were Fonteyn and Nureyev and Sibley and Dowell and the greatest Carabosse of all time, Alexander Grant with his reptilian tail beneath his black gown.  How I hate the concept of the witch as an attractive woman, totally absurd.

 

On the whole I rather liked the de Valois version, a couple of oddities were changed over the years but it was attractive to look at and I never saw the need to replace it with the design monstrosity that succeeded it.  The earlier MacMillan version was okay and had its moments but the current ENB production with his choreography is superior, a case of second thoughts being better. By the way, as Festival Ballet, the company's pre Nureyev  (Ben Stevenson?) version was exceptional with performances by Noella Pontois and John Gilpin in particular rivalling the RB casts,

 

As for Makarova's RB production, I liked it very much and thought the sets beautiful, though I suspect anything would look beautiful compared with what went before.  It may surprise some here to learn I wasn't alone in my admiration and still cannot understand why it was ditched so quickly when a few changes would have put things to rights.  Personally I prefer the RB' choreographic text to the standard Russian one, but as with all Konstantine Sergeyev's productions there is much to admire and the fact remains that over the years some of the very greatest interpreters of the leading roles have been Russian and is it permissible to point out that while debating the merits and demerits of current RB Lilacs, the divine Ekaterina Kondaurova currently owns the role?

 

So the other question, if I got the opportunity to stage my own production what would I do?  Well, my first reaction would be to approach ROH to see if the Wright/Ashton production could be reproduced from original designs and film, failing that I would seek out an imaginative design team capable of thinking outside the box and creating a work with magical elements, something a work concerning fairy tale characters must always have, and I would consider the use of lasers for Carabosse and back projections for the panorama scene.  I would of course retain the traditional RB choreography but would reinstate Ashton's garland dance and awakening pas de deux.  I would hope above all else to create something that people would want to watch over and over again regardless of cast, a true spectacle where people would be transported from the mundane to a world of magic.

[CHazell2]

I am enjoying this discussion and it is so interesting that people's opinions differ on what production that they have seen.  I don't particularly care for the Lilac Fairy being a non-dancing role but I do like SPW's production very much.

 

I think that the Royal Ballet will try to hang onto the currect production as it is based on the Messel production which is iconic. I think that the audiences can become apathetic to a production because they know what to expect, which is why I think that ballet companies should change their productions from time to time.

[CHazell2]

My all time favourite RB version was the Wright/Ashton one with it's stunning sets and costumes that I still find ravishing after looking up colour pictures in  old books this morning.  It remains for me the benchmark of what can be achieved when the production team shares a vision and when the muse looks on and grants her blessing.  Amongst the casts were Fonteyn and Nureyev and Sibley and Dowell and the greatest Carabosse of all time, Alexander Grant with his reptilian tail beneath his black gown.  How I hate the concept of the witch as an attractive woman, totally absurd.

 

 

So the other question, if I got the opportunity to stage my own production what would I do?  Well, my first reaction would be to approach ROH to see if the Wright/Ashton production could be reproduced from original designs and film, failing that I would seek out an imaginative design team capable of thinking outside the box and creating a work with magical elements, something a work concerning fairy tale characters must always have, and I would consider the use of lasers for Carabosse and back projections for the panorama scene.  I would of course retain the traditional RB choreography but would reinstate Ashton's garland dance and awakening pas de deux.  I would hope above all else to create something that people would want to watch over and over again regardless of cast, a true spectacle where people would be transported from the mundane to a world of magic.

I would so happily work with you on that MAB. I would like to see some coloured photos of the 1968 production as I only seen black and white ones.

 

My ideal production would be set in the Tudor court with the Prologue around the 1540s and Act 1 being set in the 1560s. I would use Lila de Nobili's costumes for the fairies and Carabosse as in my version, the fairy world is slightly out of sync with the mortal world. I would direct the fairies to be every so slightly feral and eldritch and give off the impression that any one of them could turn on the baby Princess at any moment if she deems herself to be insulted or not invited. It would be purely bad luck that it happened to be Carabosse. in my version, the Lilac Fairy would be the youngest and the most kindly one.  Also I would draw on the mythology of the Faery world's time being a lot different than our time - so hence the Lilac fairy's curse is based on what she thinks is a hundred years in her world - may not be necessarily the same in our world.

 

When Carabosse appears - the other fairies will remain aloof and neutral as they are powerless to intervene whilst the Lilac Fairy, having not given her gift will hide behind the cradle. She is the most human of the fairies and would have fallen in love with her godchild - whilst the other fairies are doing this Christening in a sort of offhand manner as if they have seen it all before - also the King and Queen would have appeased them beforehand with some sort of a gift, I would use de Valois choreography for the retinue of Carabosse.

 

Now, this may be a bit controversial so please bear with me on this one. I have been imagining my ideal production in my head for some years - I would set the last two acts in the 1920s. Now before anybody jumps down my throat - no, I was not influenced by Downton Abbey. The reason why I chose that period is partly because I wanted to pay tribute to the fact that the ballet only became known in the West in 1921 and the story itself was first written down in the 1590s. Another reason why is I wanted to give the Prince a background and flesh out his motivations - in that he fought in WWI and in order to forget the horror, he has become a member of a set rather like the Bright Young Things. So the hunting party scene would be a scene which it is a shooting party with Bright Young Things bringing a touch of glamour to it.

 

Here ends part one of my ideal production ideas

Edited March 1, 2017 by CHazell2

[CHazell2]

My ideal production would be set in the Tudor court with the Prologue around the 1540s and Act 1 being set in the 1560s.

How I would start is before the music rises, there will be a short scene where we will see a Nanny read to a child – who the child is – is to be revealed later.

Then the overture starts with a scene when the King is waiting anxiously for news, I would make it clear that the Queen had not given birth before and that he wants this child desperately. Then as the overture merges in the Lilac fairy’s theme, the new-born child is brought out to the King just as dawn breaks. Hence why the King gives her the name Aurora.

Then I would use the March to show the Court celebrating the Christening of the Princess. One of the criticisms of the 1968 production was that the Prologue took place in the Queen’s bedroom – which some critics argued that it made the scene too domestic – so I would set the scene first in the Queen’s bedroom when she is waiting for Aurora to return from her Christening and when the child arrives – the whole court move in procession to the Great Hall.

The entrance of the Fairies will be magical as they fly down via a window in the light of moonbeans after an owl hoots.

I would use Lila de Nobili's costumes for the fairies and Carabosse and her retinue as in my version, the fairy world is slightly out of sync with the mortal world. I would direct the fairies to be ever so slightly feral and eldritch and give off the impression that any one of them could turn on the baby Princess at any moment if she deems herself to be insulted or not invited. It would be purely bad luck that it happened to be Carabosse. In my version, the Lilac Fairy would be the youngest and the most kindly one.  Also there will be 7 fairies not six.

The fairies in this version are based very much on Faerie mythology so hence the Lilac Fairy's curse is based on what she thinks is a hundred years in her world - may not be necessarily the same in our world. Also the Seelie and Unseelie court

When Carabosse appears - the other fairies will remain aloof and neutral as they are powerless to intervene whilst the Lilac Fairy, having not given her gift will hide behind the cradle. She is the most human of the fairies and would have fallen in love with her godchild - whilst the other fairies are doing this Christening in a sort of offhand manner as if they have seen it all before - also the King and Queen would have appeased them beforehand with some sort of a gift, I would use de Valois choreography for the retinue of Carabosse. I would also make it clear in the mime that the Lilac Fairy hadn’t given her gift yet – I always think it strange that the Lilac Fairy gets to give two gifts whereas the others give only one.

I would reinstate the knitting scene as I think that it is crucial and I love the pleading music. I would use the 1946 version of the Garland Waltz. I would use the Ratmansky choreography for Aurora’s variation.

The spindle scene would be like as it played out in the 1968 production without the water butt – I imagine Carabosse tearing her face mask off and revealing herself. I would also restore the whole finale music, giving the opportunity for a real forest to grow. One decision that I would make is for the King to stay behind as he has to rule – this was the case in the original Perrault story.  Then as the music draws to a finish, we again see the child and his Nanny. The nanny is dressed in a familiar colour (Lilac).

Now, this may be a bit controversial so please bear with me on this one. I have been imagining my ideal production in my head for some years - I would set the last two acts in the 1920s. Now before anybody jumps down my throat - no, I was not influenced by Downton Abbey. The reason why I chose that period is partly because I wanted to pay homage to the fact that the ballet only became known in the West in 1921 and the story itself was first written down in the 1590s. Another reason why is I wanted to give the Prince a background and flesh out his motivations - in that he fought in WWI and in order to forget the horror, he has become a member of a set rather like the Bright Young Things. So the hunting party scene would be a scene which it is a shooting party with Bright Young Things bringing a touch of glamour to it. I would use the full court dances and the Farandole will be restored.

I would use the Ashton Prince’s Variation but the Ratmansky choreo for the vision scene as I think it is so magical and romantic. The scene would be lit by moonlight.

I would also like to use the Panaroma that they did in the 1968 production with the fairy boatman and going underground.

The whole music for the enchanted castle will be used and scrims will be used to show the Prince travelling through the castle. The scenery will be based on Gustav Dore. Also Carabosse and the Lilac Fairy will battle each other and Carabosse will die as the Prince kisses Aurora on the hand.

I would use the Awakening Pas de Deux in the following way, When the Lilac Fairy reversed the spell on the Baby princess – she meant it only for Aurora, not for the court. So when she sends the whole court to sleep – the condition that the spell will be broken when Aurora and the Prince fall in love and kiss for the first time which they do at the end of the Awakening Pas de Deux.

Here are my thoughts so far. Hope that I got your imaginations going. Let me know what you think of my conception? The music will be played at the correct tempi and the Ratmansky approach will be used in the dancing, no high extensions and bell shaped tutus

Edited March 1, 2017 by CHazell2

[CHazell2]

Sorry for the double post as I was not allowed to edit my earlier post for some reason.

[CHazell2]

in case anybody was wondering where my conception of the fairies come from, please see below. Courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Seelie and Unseelie Courts

The categorization of fairies based on court is whether or not a fairy is light or dark. The Seelie court are known to seek help from humans, to warn those who have accidentally offended them, and to return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court will avenge insults and could be prone to mischief.^[4] The most common time of day to see them is twilight.^[5] Other names for the Seelie court are 'The Shining Throne' or 'The Golden Ones' and 'The Summer Court'. Seelies are known for playing pranks on humans and having a light hearted attitude, forgetting their sorrows quickly and not realizing how they might be affecting the humans they play pranks on.

 

The Unseelie Court consists of the darkly-inclined fairies. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense is necessary to bring down their assaults.^[6] As a group (or "host"), they appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to commit such acts as shooting at cattle.^[7][8] Like the beings of the Seelie Court who are not always benevolent, neither are the fairies of the Unseelie Court always malevolent. Most Unseelies can become fond of a particular human if they are viewed as respectful, and would choose to make them something of a pet. Some of the most common characters in the Unseelie Court are Bogies, Bogles, Boggarts, Abbey Lubbers and Buttery Spirits.^[9] The division into "Seelie" and "Unseelie" spirits was roughly equivalent to the division of Elves in Norse mythology, into "light" and "dark" distinctions.^[10]

 

In the French fairy tales as told by the précieuses, fairies are likewise divided into good and evil, but the effect is clearly literary.^[11] Many of these literary fairies seem preoccupied with the character of the humans they encounter.

[MAB]

I saw St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's production of SB in Northampton last month.  They have a prologue that shows the King and Queen visiting Carabosse to obtain a magical fertility treatment.  Very discourteous therefore to exclude her from the christening as there wouldn't be a baby without her.  They also had two separate royal couples as Aurora's parents must rule the land despite their daughter's misfortune.

[CHazell2]

I saw St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's production of SB in Northampton last month.  They have a prologue that shows the King and Queen visiting Carabosse to obtain a magical fertility treatment.  Very discourteous therefore to exclude her from the christening as there wouldn't be a baby without her.  They also had two separate royal couples as Aurora's parents must rule the land despite their daughter's misfortune.

 

I saw that production too.

[Lindsay]

In response to someone's mention of the Petipa Garland Dance, I think perhaps the closest thing to that in a 'Western' production is the Balanchine Garland Dance in the NYCB version.  The choreographic text of NYCB's production (by Peter Martins) is otherwise unremarkable, but Balanchine uses children from the school as well as the company and they seem to fill the stage, always moving at top speed, in a way that makes that part of the ballet very exciting.  I found that I sat up and paid attention to it, whereas the Wheeldon version, which I think the weakest part of the current RB text (being generically "naice" and genteel), tends to make me sleepy.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Lindsay

[ivyvaine23]

While I can't say it's the best production of Sleeping Beauty, I have to say that the NYCB production was breathtaking the first time I saw it. Loved the original cast, such as Kyra Nichols, Merrill Ashley, Yvonne Borée, etc. 

[FLOSS]

Dear Administrators please delete post # 29 which I appear to have posted involuntarily. Thank you in advance.

 

At the moment I would suggest that the closest that we are going to get to Petipa's Garland Dance is to be found in the Ratnansky reconstruction for ABT. I would love to see it on the Covent Garden in some seasons. In other seasons I would happily settle for the earlier of the two Ashton Garland Dances. For the rest I would retain the Act 2 moody solo, Aurora's Act 2 solo  which Ashton created to the original music and Florestan and his Sisters in Act 3. I would not add an opening scene to the Prologue. I don't see that the Prologue needs its own prologue nor would I update the action to the 1920's. The Sleeping Beauty is undoubtedly a period piece created as a dance extravaganza for a sophisticated and discerning ballet audience and it is either worth staging using the original libretto and most of the original choreography or it is not worth staging it at all. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by FLOSS

[CHazell2]

That's fine. I just don't think that the Petipa ballets should be museum pieces. After all Shakespeare gets many different treatments. I am just setting out what I would like to do if I had a chance to. Life would be boring if we all agreed.

[MAB]

The only production I've enjoyed without reservations in the last few years was Matthew Bourne's.  The RB's current production is tedium writ large for me and should be rethought ASAP.  However good the performers, and on this outing they were very good indeed, the fact remains a significant number of posters here voted SB as a least favourite ballet.  For me that is a tragedy.  Someone needs to breathe life into the old warhorse and fast.

[FLOSS]

I believe that several people who have previously said that they have found the Sleeping Beauty boring have been surprised at how much they have enjoyed the current revival which suggests that there were things that were different about it. Now as far as I can see there was no change to the costumes or the choreographic text except the revision to Wheeldon's waltz which could happily be replaced by something better,The most obvious differences were the way in which the music was played and the dancers' response to that change and the presence on stage of a large number of young dancers who were being given their first opportunity to dance roles in the ballet rather than dancing in the corps or acting as moving wall paper as one of the courtiers.

 

Years ago I wondered whether I was mistaken when I felt that the ballet and the score were far more sluggish in performance than they had seemed in the past. I began to think that perhaps I had imagined that the ballet had once been played faster and with greater internal variety between one variation and the next but then I came across the 1978 recording of the RB's performance. While I would not argue that every dancer recorded for posterity in 1978 gave  the very best performances of their roles that I have seen that performance had an over all coherence and a lightness and variety which  I had almost come to believe that I had imagined. I began to wonder what evidence there was for that difference. I looked on Youtube and found that I could compare performances of sections of the ballet with those same sections in concert performance. Some of the comparators have been taken down but here are two examples from the Fairy Variations in the 1978 recording, the same variations as performed in, I believe 2014, and by the LSO under Andre Previn.

 

Here are the timings for Fairy of the Enchanted Garden, the second variation, and the fourth variation Fairy of the Songbirds.

 

1)Enchanted Garden/ Fleur de Farine Coulante

   As performed by the LSO 30 seconds. 

   As danced in 1978 by Ellis 31 seconds.

   As danced in 2014 by Stix-Brunell 33 seconds. 

 

2)Song Bird Fairy/Canari qui Chante

  As performed by the LSO 28 seconds.

  As danced in 1978 by Collier 27 seconds.

  As danced in 2014 by Hayward 34 seconds

 

Somehow in the years since 1978 the second variation has slowed slightly and now takes just over six percent more time to perform than it did nearly forty years ago.The fourth variation has gained seven seconds in performance. It does not sound much but it  means that it now takes 25,9% longer to dance than it did nearly forty years ago.I really think that it is these additional seconds which have rendered the Prologue almost unwatchable for me at times. You may want to know when I began to fall out of love with the Sleeping Beauty. That began with Dowell's production which gave the audience poor dancing  in subsiduary roles  combined with designs  which required a conscious effort on my part to watch the dancing rather than be distracted by the set and costumes The result was that  I reduced my attendance quite considerably.As to treating the Prologue as an optional extra rather than an essential part of the ballet that began at about the time that Mr Ovsyanikov took up residence in the pit at performances of Sleeping Beauty nearly twenty years ago.It was all very strange the dancers listed to dance in the variations  were not that bad but the performances themselves were incredibly dull. Various suggestions were made to account for the dullness of the performances the most obvious was that it was the company's failure to cast Principal dancers that was at the root of the problem.

 

Having experienced the Ratmansky reconstruction with its period performance style danced at a speed which the composer and the choreographer would recognise  followed by the performances conducted by Koen Kessels I am convinced that the real cause of dull boring performances of Beauty is largely attributable to the conductor. During this run when conducted by Kessels the score had a speed, a lightness,a variety and internal contrasts which have long been missing from performances of the ballet at Covent Garden. It gave the performances which he conducted the mecurial quality which I associated with the the ballet in my early encounteers with it but which began to disappear during the 1980's when the overall quality of the company's  classical dancing began to decline. These performances had a dance quality not seen since the early years of the de Valois production.The ballet seemed full of life because of the conductor and the presence of so many dancers who made it very clear in their performances how keen they were to dance roles in the ballet.

 

So I will stick with the current production as long as the conducting generates performances of the quality which Mr.Kessels presence in the pit did.Sleeping Beauty is a complete package it is not simply about the dancer performing the role of Aurora.it was created as a dance extravaganza and however you costume it, design its sets or revise the libretto and choreography it will drag if a company does not have dancers of the quality and type required for the roles. Reducing the number of characters and changing the choreography is at the end of the day an admission that a company does not have the number of dancers the ballet requires. It was devised to display the artistic strength of the company for which it was created and it remains a test for any company which chooses to stage it in anything closely resembling its original form. Cut the ballet or revise it substantially and you have already admitted that the company is not up to the task of dancing it. 

. 

Edited March 15, 2017 by FLOSS

[MAB]

Somehow in the years since 1978 the second variation has slowed slightly and now takes just over six percent more time to perform than it did nearly forty years ago.The fourth variation has gained seven seconds in performance. It does not sound much but it  means that it now takes 25,9% longer to dance than it did nearly forty years ago.I really think that it is these additional seconds which have rendered the Prologue almost unwatchable for me at times. You may want to know when I began to fall out of love with the Sleeping Beauty. That began with Dowell's production which gave the audience poor dancing  in subsiduary roles  combined with designs  which required a conscious effort on my part to watch the dancing rather than be distracted by the set and costumes The result was that  I reduced my attendance quite considerably.As to treating the Prologue as an optional extra rather than an essential part of the ballet that began at about the time that Mr Ovsyanikov took up residence in the pit at performances of Sleeping Beauty nearly twenty years ago.It was all very strange the dancers listed to dance in the variations  were not that bad but the performances themselves were incredibly dull. Various suggestions were made to account for the dullness of the performances the most obvious was that it was the company's failure to cast Principal dancers that was at the root of the problem.

 

 

I think it is massively unfair to scapegoat Ovsyanikov as responsible for unsatisfactory performances.  Ballet conductors are the servants of the dancers, not the other way around which is probably why few star conductors are attracted to ballet.  I've yet to come across a dancer that hasn't protested over tempi if it doesn't suit them, and yes, some will ask for it to be speeded up not just slowed down.