I have just left the Hippodrome and got home. I am still smiling. In fact I smiled all the way through this beautifully staged production - it was an evening of pure, unadulterated, pleasure.
Matthew Bourne's reinterpretation of the fairy story and Tchaikovsky's magnificent score combined with some superlative dancing and magnificent designs and costuming make for an evening of real delight. We all know the story, well, probably we all don't though most of us know the Disney version. Matthew (who was in the audience by the way) went back to the original and to every version he could find in order to come up with a way of telling the story, or indeed of having a fully formed story that could be told, to a modern audience. And it works ... we can actually care for the lovers almost from the get go and this is a more consistent version of the story than you may be used to - yes the 100 year sleep (Disney again) is in there but somehow in this version it all makes sense - there is a genuine motivation for each of the story elements and each character gets a proper history and arc.
Unashamedly modern, sexy, funny (in places) and visually beautiful this is the Sleeping Beauty against which I shall judge all future versions (panto excepted!)
If you have any love of dance go see this show ... if you think you don't then this show could change your mind
