An enthralled Richmond Theatre audience was left mesmerised by the Russian Classical Ballet Theatre's production of Sleeping Beauty on Thursday, writes Heather Flood.
With its magical and enchanting music, The Sleeping Beauty is regarded as the greatest of the Russian ballets. And this version, with Marius Petipa's original choreography, enhanced Tchaikovsky's beautiful score with graceful dancing, fabulous costumes and stylish sets.
Producer Ellen Kent's love of ballet and opera inspires her artists to give exceptional performances. And this was again the case with both the Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia, which was staged at Richmond on the previous three evenings.
Nadezda and Egor Schepachiova brought warmth and charisma to the leading roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Desire with a magical performance. Maria Poliudova and Vladimir Statnii have also received rave reviews when taking their turn to perform the lead roles on the company's successful tour.
The Lilac Fairy was also superbly danced by Natalia Korotkova, who showed poise and exquisite elegance.
Every classic fairytale has to have a villian and Ghenadii Badika thrilled us with his portrayal of the cunning and wickedly cruel Fairy Carabosse.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article