Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes


Schedule for The Sleeping Beauty. Moscow City Ballet 2022

Composer: Peter Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Marius Petipa
Artistic Director: Victor Smirnov-Golovanov
Orchestra: The Rakhmaninov Symphony Orchestra

Performance by Moscow City Ballet

The enchanting and romantic story of The Sleeping Beauty inspired Tchaikovsky to write some of his most glorious music, and the ballet has captivated the imaginations of people for well over a hundred years.

Featuring the delicate Princess Aurora, her gallant Prince, the beautiful Lilac Fairy and a host of fairy-tale characters, this magical production is a fine display of all the dramatic and lyrical talents of Moscow City Ballet.

"Breathtaking night, a truly spellbinding production"
West Briton Gazette
12 November 2004

Act One

Everything is getting ready to Aurora’s 17-th birthday in the Kingdom. Weavers plait gobelins with her portrait. The Princess hasn’t woken up yet and congratulations from Lilac Fairy and her suites are taken by the Queen. Suddenly the Wicked Witch Karabos appears. They have forgotten to invite her to the party. He predicts a terrible fortune to Aurora: The Princess will prick her finger with a knitting needle and die! The King and the Queen are in horror! The good Lilac Fairy consoles them – the Princess will not die, she will just fall asleep. But her sleep will last several centuries. She will be awakened by Prince’s Charming kiss. The King takes and breaks the weavers’ needles and exiles them from the Kingdom.

Guests come to the party. Four Princes enter the palace garden. Prince Desire is among them. Aurora runs in merrily. Desire is astonished by her beauty. The Princess stops seeing a charming young man. She’s made her choice. The Princes give Aurora flowers. She drops one of them, having pricked her finger with a needle, hidden in flowers. The Wicked Witch Karabos bursts out of laughter. It was she, in one of the Prince’s dress, who had given the deathly bucket. The King and the Queen are in despair. But the Lilac Fairy reminds that Aurora has not died, she is asleep. The Good Fairy makes everybody sleep too. The palace is covered with thick leaves, and sad Desire can’t find the beautiful garden, where he has found and lost his love.

Act Two

Desire is disconsolate. Nothing can make him happy – neither hunting for bears, nor dances with maids of honour. He wants to be alone. Everybody leaves and the Prince falls asleep. He dreams of his beloved Aurora and the Lilac Fairy shows him the way to her. It lies through centuries. If the Prince manages to make it and kisses Aurora, she will be awakened. And the Wicked Witch Karabos predicts that Desire will become an old sick man during his journey, and as soon as the Princess sees him, he will die.

The Prince is ready to sacrifice himself for his beloved sake. He starts his way down the River of Ages. Constellations help him. At last, he is at the aim of his journey, he wants to kiss Aurora, but the Witch Karabos blocks his way with the mirror. Desire is shocked seeing his reflection. He can’t go to Aurora, having such an image.

Old Desire stands among the ruins of a former wonderful palace. The Witch Karabos is over Aurora, trying to kill her with a knitting needle. The Wicked Witch’s prophecy comes true. Dying Prince takes a difficult effort to shelter Aurora. Karabos retreats, Desire kissed the Princess and she wakes up.

The Prince tries to hide, but Aurora bursts to her beloved. She is not bewildered at the sight of an exhausted old man. She embraces Desire and tears fall from her eyes. But at the Lilac Fairy’s magic wand wave, Prince Charming becomes young again in Aurora’s hands.

Aurora and Desire celebrate their wedding in a sparkling hall. Servants, who have put on dresses of fairy-tales characters, congratulate them. The Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, The Cat and the Little Boy, the Blue Bird is among them. The party is over, and the beloved are together with their lucky fortune.

Music For Ballets Fragment 1 Fragment 2

Schedule for The Sleeping Beauty. Moscow City Ballet 2022