Books, Arts & Manners: Visiting Royalty

From the news-monger’s perspective, the high point of the Royal Ballet’s visit to New York was the gala Sleeping Beauty attended by Prince Charles. That evening wasn’t bad for the connoisseur of tradition either. Sleeping Beauty, after all, was the culmination of the Royal’s effort, in the Thirties, to bring the Russian classics into the permanent Western repertory. It was with Sleeping Beauty that the company reopened the Royal Opera House after the Second World War, and with Sleeping Beauty that it triumphantly began its first American tour, in 1949.

There is also a certain cachet to performing Sleeping Beauty before royalty. Happily, the current production restores the often-omitted coda, in which Tchaikovsky turns from the Frenchified prettiness of the rest of the last act to a Slavic magnificence that conjures up what was best in the Russia of the Czars.

About the Author

Linda Bridges

Ms. Bridges is the former editor-at-large of National Review.

Featured Tags

From the news-monger’s perspective, the high point of the Royal Ballet’s visit to New York was the gala Sleeping Beauty attended by Prince Charles. That evening wasn’t bad for the connoisseur of tradition either. Sleeping Beauty, after all, was the culmination of the Royal’s effort, in the Thirties, to bring the Russian classics into the permanent Western repertory. It was with Sleeping Beauty that the company reopened the Royal Opera House after the Second World War, and with Sleeping Beauty that it triumphantly began its first American tour, in 1949.

There is also a certain cachet to performing Sleeping Beauty before royalty. Happily, the current production restores the often-omitted coda, in which Tchaikovsky turns from the Frenchified prettiness of the rest of the last act to a Slavic magnificence that conjures up what was best in the Russia of the Czars.