BRB, 21/02/2024

Tchaikovsky : The Sleeping Beauty

Artists of Birmingham Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Philip Ellis
On the opening night of the 'home' leg of Birmingham Royal Ballet's current tour of The Sleeping Beauty, I was a little surprised to see the city's Mayor in attendance, considering that just that day, Birmingham City Council announced that it was completely axing all its arts subsidies spending over the next two years, including that of BRB.  It's part of the measures introduced to attempt to alleviate the extreme financial difficulties that they announced last September, and I've seen it said that most organisations saw the writing on the wall and have been taking preemptive measures.  Still, it's a hard blow on top of the Arts Council of England's recent swingeing cuts, and I can tell you from experience that similar circumstances in a French city would not have passed nearly so discreetly.

None of the strain that the company must surely be feeling was apparent on stage, in what is one of their most sumptuous productions, and probably the finest version of Sleeping Beauty to be seen in Britain today.  It certainly outclasses the Royal Ballet's present one to a considerable degree, with Philip Prowse's lavish, lush designs a glorious visual feast.  Its only drawback is the cuts in the score, to bring the evening closer to a normal 2h30 show than the 3 hours a full Beauty normally requires, and also, I think, to accommodate a smaller, touring company.  I am pleased, though, that they have dropped the Awakening pas de deux that Sir Peter Wright incorporated; while it was an attractive enough piece of choreography, its placement right at the end of Act 2 cut the energy of the moment considerably, and it felt out of place.

There's a lot of new blood in the company, and there was a crispness to the corps numbers that has been a little lacking in the last couple of shows I've seen here.  The solo dancing was a bit more of a mixed bag, though none of it was poor.  Eilis Small's Lilac Fairy was a bit low-key compared to Daria Stanciulescu's particularly glamorous Carabosse, which rendered the face-off between them a bit anti-climactic. Of the Prologue fairies, Reina Fuchigami was a joyous Fairy of Song, and Momoko Hirata a strong Fairy of Temperament, but I found Soña Liñares just a shade stiff as the Princess in the Bluebird pas de deux.  Jonathan Payn was a rather endearing King, positively bursting with pride and delight in the Prologue, and fortunately, the principal couple was more than satisfactory all round.

This version of Beauty doesn't give the Prince a lot to do - I've seen version where he gets additional solos, but not here.  However, Lachlan Monahan made the most of what he did have, with really excellent, deep bends in the knee which kept his landings clean and quiet, and gave him plenty of spring.  He was a strong partner to Yu Kurihara's Aurora.  Kurihara was a delight, with clean, clear lines flowing smoothly, and grace and freshness combined in her presentation, confident, innocent and luminous, everything one could wish for in a fairytale princess.

[Next : 3rd March]

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