Royal Ballet Tour 2008 in China

June 21st -22nd 2008 : Sleeping Beauty at the National Grand Theatre of China, Beijing

The Royal Ballet's new production of Sleeping Beauty, I guess is the same version which was released on DVD recently. Monica Mason and Christopher Newton created this production based on the Sergeyev / De Valois / Messel production, closely following Petipa’s original text that was first performaned by the Company in 1946, and with additional choreography by Fredrick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Newton. It was premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 15 May 2006. And now, it comes to the stage of the National Grand Theatre in Beijing, for the Olympic Performance Season.


I’ve no idea about the very first version of 1946. What I know is a production of Antony Dowell, based on Petipa’s choreography and with additionals of Fredrick Ashton, Kenneth McMillan and Feodor Lopokov, a DVD of this production was released by Pioneer based on live performances on November 23 and 26, 1994, at Covent Garden. As for the choreography, I feel these two RB’s productions are very similar. The major differences between the two:

- Stage sets and costumes are completely re-designed, somptuous and spectacular

- “Garland Valse” in Act 1 is a new creation by Christopher Wheeldon, the famous valse music of this part with which we’re familiar is changed to a new one

- Pas de quatre of the “Precious Stones” in Act 3 is changed to a Pas de trois named “Florestan and his Sisters”: the introduction of Pas de trois is newly created, boy’s variation and Coda are modified, however the other two variations (of his Sisters) are still kept the same as in the old Pas de quatre (girl’s variation 1 and 3)

- Carabosse is not acted by a male dancer anymore but a female dancer, beautifully, seductively and of course wickedly presented…I like it. (who stipulated that Carabosse should be ugly and old?).

In the Royal Ballet's production, each Fairy, including Lilac Fairy, is accompanied by Her Cavalier, and the Cavaliers dance a little as well, while many other versions are different, this is interesting. For both Royal Ballet productions, the famous violin solo (No.18 Entr’acte in original score) in Act 2 is completely dropped (for me it’s a pity), while Nureyev makes it an extremely long variation for the Prince, and while Kirov uses a little of it for the Prince and the rest as Entr’acte as it is. For the character dances in Act 3, the Royal Ballet version chooses three : Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat, Princess Florine and The Bluebird, as well as Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Perhaps only the new production of Kirov’s Sleeping Beauty has recovered almost all the character dances according to Tchaikovsky’s original score, I guess Wink

Marianela Nunez’s Aurora, this was the right reason to go. I believe she’s one of the best Auroras of her generation, so incredible that I feel I could not find right words to describe her, her merits, her flawless techniques, her vivid performance. Every step, every movement, every gesture, for her, everything seems so easy to execute, no, for her, it was just to play, play with great ease and pleasure, perfect. So I think any words for that moment would be unnecessary, and, I had described her before already in early this year, for her presentation in a Gala of International Stars in Beijing. Formidable!

However, Nunez’s perfection caused somewhat some “problems”: we find a gap between her and her partner and the other dancers. Thiago Soares looked too mature that it was a little bit hard to convince me that he should be the Prince to awaken Aurora, he was rather like one of the 4 princes in the Prologue, or a young king, or a faithful cavalier. Yet he was her faithful and reliable partner, willing to be covered in her brilliance.



Another partnership was Sarah Lamb and Ivan Putrov presented in the matinée on the second day. Sarah Lamb is a “new” face to me before Royal Ballet’s tour in Beijing. Two days ago, I saw her in Manon as Lescaut’s Mistress, she looked too pure that one could hardly believe that such a lovely “little” girl was a Mistress in such an environment; on the other hand, this impression strengthened my confidence that she could be a wonderful Aurora, which I had decided to sit in - a right choice. Although she was not as brilliant as Marianela Nunez, she looked naturally a little Princess of sixteen, very slim, sweet and adorable. It’s unfair to compare her with Marianela Nunez, in terms of techniques and presentation manners, for she has her own way and style to interpret: delicate, agile, clean, stable and precise, nothing show-off - this made me hardly believe that she was trained in the U.S.A., surprisingly not American style, excellent. Smile Apparently she had prepared herself elaborately, and she knows how to make herself distinguished from the other ballerinas. On the other hand, Ivan Putrov, Prince Florimund, who was also the reason for me to attend this matinée, looked lack of energy and passion, a little below my expectation…

The same matinée, in the Prologue, I noticed a young boy, Her Cavalier of the Fairy of the Song Bird, although he had not much to dance like all the other cavaliers, he seemed quite visible, with his elegant manner of appearance and promenades, and extremely supple and beautifully arched and eloquent feet which should belong to a ballerina (sorry this is the only way I could describe my feeling at that moment), he is Sergei Polunin! He must be a “black horse”, I thought, when I looked at the casts during the interval, he was still an artist (quadrille), but he was casted in the Act 3 Pas de trois “Florestan and his Sisters” , which is normally done by a first soloist (danseur premier). He didn’t made us disappointed, in fact, I was far more than happy to have “discovered” that he was highly gifted: very flexible and well-controlled movements and turns at will, flying grands-jetés with no weight, beautiful ports de bras (not usually seen in RB’s male dancers), lyrical arabesques, beautiful lines and charming smile… but nothing was exaggerate or excessively overdone, everything looked as just simple and nature as it was. I consider myself fortunate not to have missed this performance, because it seemed that this was the only performance he appeared in Beijing. For me, to enjoy a performance of a great étoile is of course very agreeable, however, to “discover” a potential future rising star seems more interesting. Focusing on him, I lost somehow my attention to the other 2 girls in the Pas de trois, Helen Crawford and Emma Maguire, this was of course unfair to them, although they were quite good. Another combination of this Pas de trois, by Valeri Hristov, Lauren Cuthbertson and Samantha Raine was more balanced.


The Lilac Fairy : Isabel McMeekan was undoubtedly very competent by her strong techniques and expressions, while Laura McCulloch looked much closer to the role of Lilac Fairy.

The variations of Fairies: Yuhui Choe was exactly a Fairy of the Crystal Fountain, crystal, tranquil and poetic. Lauren Cuthbertson as Fairy of the Enchanted Garden enchanted us with her confident and charming smile, beautiful lines, exquisite steps and lyrical movement.

Princess Florine and the Bluebird : the most disappointing part, none of the 2 Bluebirds was convincing, awkward brisés-dessus-dessous, heavy entrechats-six, stiff ports-de-bras… Why not having choosen Ricardo Cervera or Sergei Polunin as the Bluebird instead? However, Yuhui Choe was the right Princess Florine, made this Pas de deux agreeable.

Something regrettable : some excellent male dancers were casted in the Prologue as Cavaliers, such as Ricardo Cervera, Valeri Hristov, Rupert Pennefather, Sergei Polunin; and in Act 1 as four Princes, such as David Makhateli (!), Edward Watson, Ersnt Keisner. However, I felt it a huge waste of talents, because, none of them had an opportunity to demonstrate their “virtuosities”, their existence was just the partners of Princess and Fairies, with almost nothing to perform. Particularly for the four Princes, they were wrapped in heavy costumes, hidden behind heavy big hats and gross wigs, beards and moustaches, who could distinguish “who was who”? They had even less to do than the Cavaliers, in fact nothing else to do but to support Aurora… Now I understand more why Adam Cooper didn’t like to act one of the four Princes in the past as he belonged to the Royal Ballet.

 

Enya Chen © 2008, Dansomanie