'Sleeping Beauty' reviews Cullum in reviews Bolle in reviews

Friday, the 15th of February. The ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, directed by Carla Fracci, opened its season with a curious choice, the same title (Sleeping beauty) and the same prince (Roberto Bolle) as the Teatro alla Scala. Likewise in Milan, the event gathered critics, celebrities (I recognized the former ballerina Elettra Morini with her husband Tony Renis) and ballet goers. The performance was sold out. The old production choreographed by André Prokovsky was dropped and former dancer Paul Chalmer, with Laura Contardi’s assistance, was in charge of the new one. The scenery represented a greenhouse and nature was the leitmotiv in the costumes.

For Aurora’s christening the court was dressed in white, while the fairies’ tutus were covered with green leaves and small bouquets of flowers. Their cavaliers had awful caps looking like cabbages. Gaia Straccamore was the Lilac Fairy. All the variations were danced with convinction even if not error free. Children from the ballet school carrying cushions with baskets of flowers were a nuisance with their incumbent presence. The role of Carabosse was created for Carla Fracci. She wasn’t accompanied by monsters, but by a cavalier, Riccardo Di Cosmo, and three attendants with winged costumes performing a great number of lifts. They were all dressed in black and Carabosse was looking like Caterina de’ Medici.

For Aurora’s birthday the costumes were of different shades of red. The curtain opened on Carabosse dressed as a gipsy. Also her cavalier and the attendants had changed from black to red. She read the Queen’s hand and at the same time managed to deliver spindles. The female dancers in the corps de ballet were carrying horrible red crests on the top of their heads. Lisa-Maree Cullum, guesting from Munich, was Aurora and her entrance was rather tense, even if it was greeted by a long applause. Her technique was so solid and her balances so stunning that I couldn’t understand why she was so little confident and avoided the last promenade en attitude during the Rose adagio. Immediately after, the tension dissolved and we were in front of a fresh, stilish and outstanding princess. She had softened her pointe shoes so that her high jumps had marvellous light landings. Carabosse, back in black, offered her a bouquet of flowers and Aurora got pricked. She was carried out in the wings and a forest hid a small group of dancers falling asleep.

The second act was set in Russia, with snow on the background. The people of the court were dressed in dark velvet and furs were laid beside the chairs were they rested after the hunt. The prince arrived on a cushioned sleigh. He was dressed in dark violet with black suede boots. He danced a brilliant solo and, when left alone, another one on the first part of the Sarabande. He fell asleep on the sleigh. Aurora appeared and they danced together while the orchestra played the Entracte music, then the prince went back to sleep on the sleigh. There was the arrival of 16 dryads, with white costumes and glittering crowns who could be coming from the ballet “The snow maiden”. Again the sleeping prince danced with Aurora and again went back to sleep on the sleigh. He remained asleep during all the journey with the Lilac Fairy on the Panorama music. No fight was required against the devil: Carabosse disappeared by herself, followed by the forest and the prince just had to kiss Aurora.

For the last act the court wore white again. Again the variations for the Precious Stones, the cats, Redhood and the wolf were danced with convinction but were not error free. Better fared Alessandro Tiburzi as the Bluebird and especially Silvia Curti as Florine. The grand pas was superbly danced and Bolle caught Cullum with only one arm before the last poisson. At the final apotheosis Carabosse returned with a white costume, carrying a long veil for Aurora.

During the curtain calls the stage became slippery due to the petals of the flowers thrown on the dancers from the boxes. More performances will follow until the end of next week, when Zakharova and Kolb will be guesting.