Pennsylvania Ballet – Sleeping Beauty 10/12

Philadelphia can boast a lot of firsts in America: first art museum, first zoo, first university, first hospital, first public library, first stock exchange, and – trumpets and drum roll, please – first performance of Sleeping Beauty. Yes, it’s true. The Philadelphia Ballet under the direction of Catherine Littlefield staged the first American Sleeping Beauty at the Academy of Music in 1937. Eighty years later in the very same theater, Pennsylvania Ballet premiered a brand spanking new Sleeping Beauty conceived by its never-sleeping star artistic director, Angel Corella. 

Most of the balletomanes who swing in Haglund’s circle have enough love in their hearts for more than one version of Sleeping Beauty. The music, the fairytale, the theme of goodness triumphing over evil – all together will sustain variations in choreography so long as the Petipa heart beats strongly, which it certainly did at Thursday night’s premiere. 

At 2 hours and 40 minutes with two intermissions, this was a slimmed down Sleeping Beauty – not an ounce of extra flesh on her anywhere, and she looked marvelous. Corella’s own choreography woven around the iconic variations and PdDs by Petipa was refreshing. We wish that so much of the mime had not been stripped from the story, but the resulting lively pace of the production seemed attuned to the expectations of the local audience. The costume designs by David Walker were tasteful and traditional – some with a hint of Spanish influence such as the generous lace and bolder color palette used for the corps ladies in the Act II Vision Scene.

The Prologue, perhaps the strongest part of this production, revealed the women of Pennsylvania Ballet to be extraordinary classical artists of great refinement. Alexandra Hughes’ Fairy of Passion pointed her fingers with authority but didn’t convey over-the-top dominance as we have seen in other productions. Ana Calderon’s Fairy of Eloquence conveyed canary qualities without looking like a windup toy gone crazy as we know can happen with this role. Yuka Iseda's Fairy of Generosity was lovely running on her pointes. Mayara Pineiro’s Fairy of Vitality launched buoyant jetes and exuberant piques. So Jung Shin as the Fairy of Purity was perhaps the highlight of the Prologue for her fluid port de bras.

The Lilac Fairy, Dayesi Torriente, at first appeared too tall to be dancing among the other fairies in the Prologue. But once she took the stage alone as the Lilac Fairy, she was brilliant and carried a sense of grandness that emanated from her back. All of her battement fouettes were clean as a whistle. What a beautiful dancer — of course, Cuban trained.

Act I with its difficult variations for Aurora and the Rose Adagio revealed the lovely Oksana Maslova mostly up to the tasks. Some nerves registered early on which also could have been the nervous excitement of a 16-year-old at her big birthday party. Her first variation was more wild and free than royally mannered. Yes, that right leg aimed toward the ceiling several times in developpes, a signature of Oksana’s dancing. Unfortunately, in the classical tutu we could see underneath that the hip was turned over instead of turned out and the leg was not rotated. But as the ballet progressed through the acts, Oskana’s dancing became more refined just as we would expect from a maturing Aurora. Aurora's Rose Adagio balances were quick but didn’t include eye contact or communication with her princes. These balances are always stressful, but they should be more than just balances.

Act II introduced us to Sterling Baca’s dashing Prince Desiré – wholesome, full of confidence and authority, and handsome as could be. His own dancing throughout Act II and Act III was superb. This wasn’t the performance in which to take risks, and he didn’t. He powered through his grand allegro variations impressively and partnered Aurora sensitively. And yes, he managed all of the fish dives with one arm. In jumps, however, Sterling’s feet tended to look relaxed rather than strongly pointed, but other than that, his performance was premiere-worthy.

The Act II Vision Scene seemed curtailed and rushed. That may be because so much of the mime was cut. The Awakening went by so quickly that it didn’t even warrant listing in the Playbill program. It was the Cliff’s Notes version of the Cliff’s Notes of the Awakening scene. It took all of 5 seconds for Prince Desiré to realize that he had to give Aurora a smooch, race up to the bed and land a quick kiss on her face, get her off the mattress and down to center stage and persuade her to say, "Yes." It was very fast.

Act III had a good assortment of traditional characters. Jermel Johnson as Gold and Alexandra Hughes as Silver with Ana Calderon, Alexandra Heier, and Nayara Lopes as the Precious Stones added star power to the act. Yuka Iseda’s Princess Florine sparkled but her Bluebird, Aleksey Babayev, was more power than pristine in his taxing solo. Puss ’n Boots, White Cat, Red Riding Hood, Wolf weren’t danced as big as they most surely will be later in the run.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Giuseppe Zanotti double strapped rose gold stiletto guaranteed to stretch out the tops of the ankles, is bestowed upon Sterling Baca for his fine debut in Pennsylvania Ballet’s world premiere of Sleeping Beauty.

 

Comments

[Jennifer]

Thoughtful review, as always. Thank you. I was also at this performance and agree with your observation that the Prologue was probably the strongest Act. This is usually my least favorite part of the ballet: all those familiar, and often tedious and/or over the top, fairy variations and you have to wait until after the intermission to see Aurora! Not on Thursday. Each fairy variation was engaging and lovely. Such a nice surprise.

I also loved the costumes and set design. I went to see the principals and ended up liking the surrounding package just as much if not more. Still can't get over what a deal community rush tickets are at Pennsylvania Ballet. $17 and I was center orchestra. I pay twice that for parking in DC or certainly NY to see the ballet, never mind the ticket price.

[Haglund]

Hi, Jennifer. $17 is quite the deal.

Looking forward to seeing what Angel makes of Swan Lake next March. I think that our Lilac Fairy, Dayesi Torriente, would make an incredible Odette/Odile.

[BryanP]

Hello Haglund, so glad to hear that you enjoyed the show. I had the good fortune of seeing three performances, with different casts. Of note, I saw the final Sunday matinee on Sunday 10/22, and Lillian DiPiazza was simply exquisite as Aurora. Ian Hussey was a solid Prince, and Alexandra Hughes danced Lilac Fairy with authority. I also caught Sterling at one of the other performances, and he was fantastic as the Prince. Two other standouts were So Jung Shin as Florine and Zecheng Liang, whose Bluebird brisé volé were first rate - they got extended ovations.

I was able to go to a preshow talk with Angel Corella, and he mentioned that he inserted one step into the Garland Dance in Act 1. He was inspired by walking through an arched walkway in an arboretum this summer and he wanted to recreate that onstage. So at the end of the garland dance, he has the corps coming crouched toward the audience, and each front couple holds up their garland and moves backward on the sides, while the couples in the middle keep coming forward under the arches. It's quite a nice effect.