[NEohioPAL] Review of "Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Fairy Tale"

[Bob Abelman]

'Sleeping Beauty' meets 'Twilight' in glorious gothic retelling at PlayhouseSquare

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 10/11/13

 

 

It's not as if the classic story "Sleeping Beauty" has been in hibernation.

 

Since its publication by Charles Perrault in 1697, it has at the very least inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet score in the late-1800s, the Brothers Grimm fairytale in 1917, Walt Disney's animation in 1959, and an edgy, modern-day film by Julia Leigh that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011.  This romantic tale about a beautiful princess, the enchantment of sleep, and a handsome prince has been told and retold.   

 

It is being told once more on the Palace Theatre stage at PlayhouseSquare by master storyteller/ choreographer Matthew Bourne.  It takes the form of dance theater set to Tchaikovsky's score and is placed in a darkly gothic setting that mixes fairies with vampires and ballet with contemporary dance.  It also accentuates the good vs. evil theme that runs throughout the original work.  

 

It is wonderful in conception and gorgeous in execution.

 

Tchaikovsky wrote his score in collaboration with choreographer Marius Petipa, so that the music is not only breathtakingly beautiful but facilitates the visual storytelling at every twist and turn.  Bourne uses this to his full advantage by allowing the music to dictate the dance rather than by merely setting dance to music.  Nothing you see seems forced or incompatible with what you hear, and everything that is performed by this troupe of muscular, energetic dancers is precise and marvelously expressive.  

 

The end result is a very fluid, moving and entertaining stage production.

 

The touring company travels with Lez Brotherston's elaborate and breathtaking sets and costumes that are as much a part of the fantasy and majesty of this production as the music and dance.  Richly adorned and draped palatial bedrooms, elaborate gardens complete with statues and sunsets, and an enchanted forest that is at once romantic and foreboding thanks to Paule Constable's lighting design fill the stage.  

 

Colorful Edwardian garb and creative concoctions of fabric and feathers help define the personas of royals, courtesans, and dark and light fairies.  Off-setting all this flamboyance is the white period undergarment worn by our free-spirited and barefooted sleeping beauty and assorted, blindfolded sleepwalkers. 

 

Not traveling with the tour are musicians.  A recorded version of Tchaikovsky's score, conducted by Brett Morris, provides the musical accompaniment.  It is adequate at best but serves to reduce the cost of this production and the resultant price of its tickets. 

 

Every role in this demanding production is necessarily double- or triple-cast, so there is likely to be a different combination of dancers on stage at any given performance.  

 

During last Friday night's performance, an absolutely charming, graceful and athletic Hannah Vassallo plays Aurora, the sleeping beauty.  Similarly superb in their dance and expressiveness is her royal-by-deed rather than by-birth hero, Leo, portrayed by Chris Trenfield; her parents, played by Edwin Ray and Daisy May Kemp; Christopher Marney as the King of the Fairies; and Adam Maskell as the deliciously evil Carabosse and her son Caradoc.  In fact, there is not a weak spot or uninteresting portrayal in the entire ensemble of performers.

 

This "Sleeping Beauty" is a glorious affair, on par with Bourne's daring versions of "The Nutcracker" (set in an orphanage rather than a warm and welcoming home) and "Swan Lake" (complete with a bevy of male swans).  It is a work most certainly worth seeing about a story worth telling again.



"Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Fairy Tale" continues through October 13 at PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $75, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.playhousesquare.com.
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