ENB My First Ballet - Sleeping Beauty

[JennyTaylor]

I took 2 children aged 7 and 5 to a performance of ENB's My First Ballet: the Sleeping Beauty at Richmond Theatre.  They loved it - so job well done.  I didn't love it quite so much although I love the concept of these ballets.

 

The ballet was narrated throughout, which was excellent and it also mirrored the mime happening on stage, which I really appreciated. Not sure any of the children did, but never mind. I learned quite a lot about mime. 

 

The story of the Sleeping Beauty was changed quite significantly.  No spinning wheel (old fashioned I assume), so Aurora is pricked by a rose, not a spindle.

This negates the need for the Rose Adagio (as she would have been pricked), but a version of that dance was still presented, but not to the right music!  Surely if you are introducing  children to the Sleeping Beauty ballet, the most famous dance of all should be represented with the right music which is so famous and so beautiful.

 

Nothing nasty really happens, so Carabosse turns into a good fairy, and the kiss to wake Aurora up is turned into a hug.  Oh well, nice for children to think the world is a happy place.

The quality of the dancing did not overwhelm but the dancers deserve great credit for keeping their concentration through a noisy audience experience.  

   

[alison]

Thank you, Jenny.  I'd totally forgotten that I'd intended to report back on this after seeing it at the Peacock, so I'll go and try and hunt out my notes.

 

EDIT:  Ah, can't find the cast sheet.  I know I put it somewhere safe so I didn't lose it  

[alison]

Interestingly, I see we had coverage of a previous production back in 2012:

 

It has totally changed since then!

[JennyTaylor]

Gosh yes, I've just read the reviews!  Why, oh why!