The Sleeping Beauty review at London Coliseum
BALLET in London is currently having a whale of a time. What with a spanking new production of Swan Lake in Covent Garden and down the road at the Coliseum there’s as near perfect a Sleeping Beauty as one could ask for.
The depth of detail that ENB finds in the steps of its current Beauty is only part of it, though.
The orchestra under Gavin Sutherland, for instance, played the familiar Tchaikovsky but I was hearing it for the first time.
I have watched Alina Cojocaru dance since her arrival here a number of years ago and her performance was as gripping as her first appearance.
However it is the company as a whole who dance every step, however far upstage they may be, as though it was the first time it had happened.
I was very happy to see such high performance standards right through the company
I suspect ENB’s rehearsal team, led by former Bolshoi Ballet star Irek Mukhamedov, is working as hard as ever. Well, it’s certainly paid off.
The opening scene crams the stage with fairies, page boys, peasants, kings and queens. There is scarcely room to swing a wand.
Then on comes James Streeter’s wicked witch Carabosse with red hair and white face, a tiny but vital role with which Streeter creates a rich caricature teetering delightfully on the edge of upstaging proceedings.
Joseph Caley danced Prince Desire last Wednesday – a typical 19th-century man-in-white-tights role, there only to support the ballerina – but Caley neatly treads the narrow line between his limited number of steps with the naturalism demanded today.
I was very happy to see such high performance standards right through the company: Begona Cao danced beautifully all evening as did Shiori Kase in her debut as the Lilac Fairy.
The fairytale finale was simply a feast of excellent dancing. Young Daniel McCormick is a natural Bluebird but Cojocaru and Cayley firmly placed their seal of excellence on the proceedings.
Not for a moment did Cojocaru descend into currying favour with the audience, she profoundly believes in what she is doing and I for one find that deeply refreshing.
The closing magnificent love duet says it all.