The Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty holds a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory: It was the ballet with which the Company reopened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War II. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original 1946 staging was revived by then Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason and Christopher Newton, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage. The masterful 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa is combined with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. Together they create an enchanting sequence of gems in the ballet repertory.