Sleeping Beauty

Despite problems with the venue the weekend before opening, which threatened the production with cancellation, the first night performance I attended went ahead with few hiccups. A wide range of music was used in the production including numbers from musicals through Abba to up to date numbers from Gary Barlow. An usual choice for a finale number, but beautifully delivered, was the full company singing “Oh Holy Night”. Ian Glover played the hen-pecked King Septimus well against Adrienne Lean’s Queen Sybil. Abbey Wright was a delightful Princess Aurora and was well matched by Luke Wilson as her suitor Prince Michael of Murania. Alison Forbes as Carabosse was strongly evil and deserved all the boos she got from the audience but in the end was no match for the good magic of Gayna England’s Fairy Queen. Comedy was in the safe hands of Ben Mortimer, as everybody’s friend Barney the Court Jester, and Lindsay Knight as Nanny Nora, whose hooped dresses kept getting bigger with each entrance. Her exploits at romance to get Barney into her clutches were hilarious. The sets were simple but effective and I liked the use of the chorus to form the vines surrounding the court at the opening of Act 2. Well done to all at EADS for putting on such an entertaining show under trying circumstances.

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