Boston Ballet's Sleeping Beauty

Misa Kuranaga as Aurora in Boston Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty, photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

Sat, May 2 - Boston Ballet's current staging of The Sleeping Beauty, which premiered in 2005, is a rare staging that uses the choreographic text traditionally associated with The Royal Ballet and English productions of the ballet (many productions use an amalgam of various Russian stagings). This text was originally formed at the Royal by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton in the 1940s, and most of the main choreography more closely resembles the original choreography by Marius Petipa than any other production today - today's Russian productions tend to come from a Soviet restaging that occurred sometime in the 50s.

The English choreography is more musical and stately, more lively and more dramatic, in my opinion, and also includes various small additions to the choreography by Frederick Ashton, like his delightful choreography for famous Act 1 garland waltz and Aurora's variation in the Act 2 vision scene. To me, it's the way Sleeping Beauty should be done. Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite ballets in the repertoire, and this staging makes the best case for it as a grand fairy tale ballet and a demonstration of classical ballet at its purest - the Russian stagings can be so boring and overstuffed, and unfortunately its usually the Russian descendants that most people see.

The old Royal production is used in Boston to a fuller extent than just the choreography: the sets and costumes in fact used to belong to the Royal, and was used from the 70s to early 90s. When the Royal moved on to a new production with sets by Maria Bjørnson, Boston Ballet purchased the scenery and garments, and has used them in the company's Sleeping Beauties over the years (though the De Valois staging was not reincorporated into Boston's production until 2005).

This is not to say that in performing this version, Boston Ballet's identity is subsumed into the Royal's. The company takes full ownership of The Sleeping Beauty, and the performance that I saw on Saturday was wonderful: there was fantastic dancing all around, from the principals to the soloists. I was a bit disappointed in the mime and storytelling. The Bostonians rushed through the mime, or didn't communicate as theatrically as the movements needed, so the storytelling got the short shrift here (there was an unintentional laugh when the King over dramatically mimed "you will die" to a few peasants caught with spindles - it was an uncharacteristically clear moment of mime, and its clarity and melodrama were out of place). Still, there was plenty to enjoy about the rest of performance, so it didn't matter as much in the end.

Misa Kuranaga was a bright and confident Aurora. Her dancing looked entirely effortless, even in the most difficult passages of choreography; she has an easy pliancy and firm center that she uses to move liquidly between high extensions and pure arabesques, but also has the taste to not over contort the movements. Her Rose Adage, with its famous series of long balances, was one of the more thrilling moments in the ballet. (I can't seem to find any official photos of her performance, but I found these photos that someone took incognito, mid-performance.) If anything was lacking, it was that she could have textured her emotions and facial expressions more: her smile was unchanging from her first entrance to the final wedding pas de deux, her face and neck fixed upright where more plushness would be desired. Nelson Madrigal supported Kuranaga securely as Prince Florimund, if not standing out very much on his own in a ballet that is ultimately more about its women than the men.

Kathleen Breen-Combes and James Whiteside as Princess Florine and the Bluebird, photo by Rosalie O'Connor

Melissa Hough was wonderful as The Lilac Fairy. She has a beautiful, expansive style that suited the Lilac Fairy's variation perfectly; Boston also used the Lilac variation used by the Royal, which is can look exposed and awkward if done wrong. Hough executed the variation securely and with little fuss (here's a good video example of it, and here too an example of how it can go awry). I was also a fan of her mime, which was clear and quite present. Friends told me that she gave a spectacular performance as Aurora at the matinee performance that same day - I wish I could have seen it as well.

In the Bluebird Pas de Deux, Kathleen Breen-Combes was fantastically bright and fleet-footed as Princess Florine. It was a very smooth and easy-looking performance, yet big and clear. James Whiteside had high-flying jumps as the Bluebird, though Breen-Combes had more polish in her dancing. The rest of the company acquitted itself admirably in the various solo parts, particularly the Prologue Fairies and the Jewel Pas de Trois in Act 3.

This performance was certainly worth traveling for, and even with a few shortcomings in the details, it was fantastic to see The Sleeping Beauty done grandly and luxuriously.