THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Royal Opera House Live Cinema): Authentic classic ballet, onscreen


Even if you never watched ballet before, you would most likely recognize some of the melodies in this ballet. Being one of the most beloved ballets over more than a hundred years since its premiere at Mariinsky Theater, The Sleeping Beauty is enchanted, glorious, and also tremendously strenuous but fulfilling to the dancers. Though it has been performed countless times around the world for a long time, watching a production by a world-class ballet company will certainly give you an enlightening experience and a whole new point of view about classical ballet.

Royal Opera House Live Cinema is bringing The Sleeping Beauty to Landmark Ritz 5 on February 25, 2020 only. The show was recorded live at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 2019. The company revived the original 1946 staging of the ballet in 2006.

Like so many other productions of the ballet, it is based on 19th century’s Marius Petipa’s choreography, but some segments were newly created and added by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. The title roles were danced by First Soloist, Fumi Kaneko (Princess Aurora) and Principal, Federico Bonelli (Prince Florimund), surrounded by other fantastic dancers of the Royal Ballet. (The Sleeping Beauty requires a bunch of highly skilled solo dancers for all kinds of roles.)

The show is nothing but marvelous. The stage sets and costumes are dazzling, the score by Tchaikovsky played by Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is breathtaking and exhilarating. And, of course, the dancers. Each and every one of them is astonishing and powerful enough to convince the viewers to believe the fairy tale of a princess who wakes up from one hundred years of curse with a kiss by a prince charming.

In this era of virtual reality and computer graphics, most of the entertainment on screen is edited for added effects. But in the world of ballet, the story, the magic, and the spectacular atmosphere are created in life on stage all by the real elements. Some may feel that classical ballet is too unrealistic and too much of a fairy tale. However, could there be anything more authentic and real than real people with actual bodies and emotions living a life in front of you?

[Landmark Litz 5, 214 Walnut Street, Philadelphia] February 25, 2020; rohcinematickets.com; landmarktheatres.com

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