Strong reviews for this revival of Sir Peter Wright's "Sleeping Beauty". Wright has a knack for staging the classics that takes some beating:
Sleeping Beauty By Stephanie Ferguson for The Guardian
You almost need to wear your sunglasses for this glittering revival of Peter Wright's production for Birmingham Royal Ballet. Nearly 20 years on, it is still breathtaking. Philip Prowse's lavish sets and costumes capture all the baroque opulence of the court of Louis XIV, with obelisks, urns and golden panels Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would be proud of.
This is an epic staging in the imperial Russian tradition. The company is in golden mode. Director David Bintley has honed the dancers, especially the men. With its physical pyrotechnics and bravura choreography, this revival was a ballet-lovers' dream.
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Sleeping Beauty By Donald Hutera for The Times
IN 1984 Peter Wright first staged his version of The Sleeping Beauty, originally created by Marius Petipa at St Petersburgh’s Mariinsky Theatre in 1890, for what was then Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. Now Birmingham Royal Ballet’s current performances of Wright’s lavish, solidly traditional, fairy-tale ballet continue at the Lowry until Saturday, with additional tour dates in Birmingham and Plymouth sponsored by AquaLibra.
Oiled down to its essence, the work’s dramatic thrust hinges on a grave social error. Somehow the fairy Carabosse (imperious scenery-chewer Marion Tait) has been omitted from the guest list at Princess Aurora’s christening. She slaps a fatal curse on the infant, which the beneficent, Lilac Fairy (Silvia Jimenez), handily converts into mere suspended animation for 100 years.
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Awake to a world of wonders Ismene Brown reviews The Sleeping Beauty at The Lowry, Salford for The Daily Telegraph
Even with the overflowing cornucopia of dance that Britain can offer, one comes to the prospect of seeing Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty again with the gratitude of a thirsty traveller in a desert. What a masterpiece this is, of theatre, music, dance, visual luxury, humanity and childhood magic. It is a kaleidoscope fashioned by the 19th century's most ingenious master of illusions, and that Birmingham Royal Ballet has taken out its magnificent Peter Wright production this season is a cause of real pleasure.
From the first view of the rich, gold drop-curtain, drawn by a bewigged and frock-coated flunkey with his encrusted candelabra, you are ushered into a world of fantasy that does better in atmosphere than either of the Royal Ballet's two recent productions.
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