New York City Ballet – Tschaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, January 29, 2010.

David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center – Second Ring Right, Seat BB26 ($47).

Conductor – Clotilde Otranto; The Lilac Fairy – Teresa Reichlen, The Fairy Carabosse – Jenifer Ringer, Princess Aurora – Sterling Hyltin, Prince Desire – Jonathan Stafford.

Story: At the christening of Princess Aurora, various fairies came to give their blessings. Carabosse, who isn’t invited, barges in an puts a curse on the Princess: she will prick her finger on a spindle on her 16th birthday and die. Lilac counters that curse and says Aurora will only fall asleep and will be awakened by the kiss of a loving prince. Thus it happens on Aurora’s 16th birthday, when the spindle is given to Aurora hidden in a bouquet by Carabosse. She and the rest of the court falls asleep for 100 years. Prince Desire is alone during a hunt, and Lilac shows up and tells him to rescue Aurora. He kisses her, she and the court all wake up, and Aurora and Desire get married.

Ellie was in town for the weekend from San Francisco, so we (Ellie, Kuau, Anne and myself) took advantage of the Goldstar discount to see this ballet. We gulped down a pizza before we headed off to the train station. It was a very cold day, but we weren’t outside for too long.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last entry was that the Koch Theater had just undergone an extensive renovation costing in the neighborhood of $50M; “extensive” probably is a better description. The seats and the bathrooms look new, and that’s about it. Perhaps they did something about the acoustics, sound, and lighting system; but I would be hard-pressed to point out any differences. To be fair, I have seen only two ballets since the renovation was completed, so I may not be in a great position to comment on the improvements, or lack thereof. Perhaps each seat costs $10,000, otherwise I don’t know where they spent the money. The seats are nice, but not nearly that nice!

Which brings me to the music. Today’s orchestra performance didn’t sound nearly as exciting as last time (Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.) In fact it was lackluster during Act I Scene 1; the performance improved as the show progressed, but overall it was timid, lacking in dynamic range and emotion, and surprisingly un-romantic for Tchaikovsky. The Sleeping Beauty is one of the composer’s better known pieces and there are some familiar melodies, I wonder what a great performance (with or without the dancers) would sound like.

Perhaps I shouldn’t expect too much drama in the ballet. The story is well-known, and straightforward. The ballet, in my opinion, was written to showcase the ability and artistry of the dancers. Unfortunately I look for drama where there isn’t much, and thus am deservedly disappointed. There are many instances where different dancers would come out and do their number (e.g., different fairies blessing Princess Aurora.) Enjoyable if you appreciate ballet dancing, boring if you want the story to move forward. Actually the choreographer seems to want to imbue each of the fairies with a distinct character, which reminds me of what Wagner did with the various “hildas” in the Ring operas. This would be something only an avid fan would notice, or care about.

There are some light moments provided by little riding hood and the big bad wolf. I don’t know how that fits into the story, and wonder if this is what Tchaikovsky (or whoever did this in the original libretto) had the roles written as such.

The dancers seemed to put on a better performance than Romeo and Juliet, though. The choreography isn’t as athletic as Romeo and Juliet, and sometimes the movements seemed a little rushed. There were a few instances the dancers failed to “nailed the landing,” to borrow a phrase from gymnastics.

I have seen three of Tchaikovsky’s ballets (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty). Of the three, Swan Lake is most enjoyable. This show certainly hasn’t made me a fan of the genre, though.