Outside, the haze had reached a hazardous level. But here, inside the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre, my seven-year old asks me cherubically, “When does the talking start?”
The answer to that question is of course: never!
Nevertheless, here I was, one of a throng of parents bringing their daughters (most in full princess regalia) to Sleeping Beauty on Ice presented by award-winning troupe, The Imperial Ice Stars.
In this age of cartoons with manic changes of scene and zippy dialogue, the telling of this classic fairytale through ballet on ice may seem a little demanding on children but in fact, children and adults alike had been won over by the end of the show, judging by the enthusiastic applause and even several audience members on their feet, especially in response to the high jinks at the close of the performance.
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The ballet’s “plot” followed the broad strokes of the Sleeping Beauty story, opening with a sufficiently malevolent (and male) “fairy” cooking up his sleeping potion in a dark forest, followed by more fairies in colourful frocks bestowing their gifts on the baby (represented by a giant pink crib) before the evil fairy turns up grumpily to cast his spell on Sleeping Beauty for not inviting him to the party…
The story goes on its familiar trajectory but there were a few changes of interest, with the spindle exchanged for a poisonous drink and a fencing duel between the prince and the evil fairy (“How exciting!” my 7-year old exclaims).
At the end of that duel, Sleeping Beauty is revealed in a leaf-like bed amid a cardboard jungle to be awoken by the Prince sans kiss.
In between, there was a witty valet character providing the laughs, jets of flame on either side of the stage shooting up to impressive heights to provide dramatic tension, the “king” barreling round and round (much to the amusement of the man sitting next to me who shouted “wa lau” in glee!), cirque du soleil type acrobatics as dancers were lifted up via cable….and did I mention the ice-skating?
The dancing was natural, graceful and seeming effortless, with many elaborate ensemble sequences (including the prince dancing with seemingly all the good fairies).
This was a hardworking production and despite not having a live orchestra, no one felt short-changed. In fact, the seven-year old was heard intoning, “So when is Mulan on Ice coming?”
The Imperial Ice Stars Sleeping Beauty On Ice
MasterCard Theatres, Marina Bay Sands
24 to 27 September 2015
Thursday – Friday 7.30 pm;
Saturday: 1.30 pm and 7.30 pm
Sunday: 1.30 pm and 6.30 pm
TICKET PRICE: From $75 to $155, excluding booking fees
Tickets available from www.BASEentertainmentasia.com, www.MarinaBaySands.com/Ticketing or www.sistic.com.sg.
