The Sleeping Beauty at The Royal Opera House – Review

Last Updated on January 9, 2026

The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House 

We reviewed this production of The Sleeping Beauty on Press Night in January this year.  The dates for May and June are rapidly approaching – we are thrilled that there are more chances to see one of our favourite Royal Ballet classics and very tempted to pop along and see it all over again. 

If you missed out last time, we recommend this Royal Ballet production.

Dates and lead dancers are as follows

There are also two screenings if you are not planning on visiting London – a live cinema relay on  Wednesday 24 May 2023 at  7:15 pm and an encore cinema relay on Sunday 28 May 2023 at 2 pm

If that’s whetted your appetite, there are still tickets available for all dates.  Read our review from January and we are sure you’ll be tempted!

Nuñez and Muntagirov Shine in this Royal Ballet Classic

In the midst of a bleak midwinter, what could be more heartwarming than this sumptuous revival of Monica Mason and Christopher Newton’s 2006 production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House, which is itself an updating of Dame Ninette de Valois’ 1946 production for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet that famously reopened the Garden at the end of the Second World War.

This production is now the jewel in the crown of the Royal Ballet’s repertory bringing together Marius Petipa’s original choreography from the St Petersburg premiere in 1890, supplemented by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon, with Tchaikovsky’s score and Oliver Messel’s designs. It is the second of Tchaikovsky’s trio of ballets, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, that represent the zenith of the art form.

The original story came from a series of medieval texts with the narrative then passing into the aural tradition. The tale was codified by the Brothers Grimm in their key repository of folklore, Grimm’s Fairy Tales with the story most recently reappearing in the National Theatre’s musical Hex.

The Sleeping Beauty has three acts but with a lengthy prologue setting the scene, it is really a four-act ballet. The Prologue, with Tchaikovsky’s stirring opening driven forward at quite a tempo by conductor Koen Kessels, is set at the christening party of the baby Princess Aurora hosted by her father King Florestan XXIV and his Queen played with regal grace by Christopher Saunders and Elizabeth McGorian. The ‘evil’ fairy Carabosse, Kristen McNally – who I last saw as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet  – is resplendent in black and crimson. Accompanied by her rat attendants they cuts some fiendish shapes. She is furious not to have received an invitation to this royal event and gifts the baby a spindle which she predicts will bring about the Princess’ death.

Carabosse’s nemesis is the Lilac Fairy, danced by Fumi Kaneko who brings a refined elegance to her work whether in a classical role as here or in a more contemporary work such as Kyle Abraham’s The Weathering. The ‘good’ Lilac Fairy explains that Aurora won’t die but will be put into a deep sleep.

Act 1 takes us forward to the Princess’ 16th birthday party and features the ballet’s best-known sequence – the sublime Rose Adage – with four Princes wooing Marianela Nuñez as Princess Aurora with their flowers. This six-minutes is probably the technical high point of the repertoire for a classical ballerina with a fiendish sequence of développés, pirouettes, attitudes, bourrées and arabesques which Nuñez delivers with total brilliance. It’s meant to look effortless and it does, and she manages to combine her character’s transition from girlhood to womanhood at the same time. A disguised Carabosse gives Aurora a spindle on which the girl pricks her finger, causing her to pass out. In response, the Lilac Fairy puts the whole court to sleep and a forest canopy engulfs the palace.

Heralded by Tchaikovsky’s  French horns Act 2 takes us forward another hundred years to a forest hunting scene. The great Russian dancer Vadim Muntagirov plays Prince Florimund with a youthful aristocratic air. He meets the Lilac Fairy who summons up the spirit of Aurora. He falls in love and asks the Lilac Fairy to take him to Aurora. After a set-to with Carabosse, the prince kisses Aurora who comes back to life. With the court now awake and order restored,

Act 3 is set at Prince Florimund and Princess Aurora’s wedding which is where the dance fireworks start. There are a series of virtuosic solos, pas de deux and pas de quatre by the principals and the fairytale character guests. Mica Bradbury and Leo Dixon were brilliantly comic and playful as Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat; and Isabella Gasparini and Joseph Sissens as Princess Florine and the Bluebird had terrific chemistry, with Sissens in particular, showing tremendous athleticism in his brises volés.

 But the highlight of Act 3 was Muntagirov’s variation as Prince Florimund where he floated through the air with princely grace. This production of Sleeping Beauty is classical ballet at its finest.

With its dramatically coherent story, gorgeous costumes and scenery and world-class dancing this production is a delight.

The Royal Ballet

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Main Stage Monday 16 January – Tuesday 6 June 2023

Live Cinema Relay: Wednesday 24 May 2023, 7:15 pm Encore Cinema Relay: Sunday 28 May 2023, 2 pm

Tickets: £9 – £170

Royal Opera House

Bow Street London WC2E 9DD