Reviews & Press Clippings

It's not a ballet, though pointe shoes do make a surprise showing and the music is Tchaikovsky. And it's not one of those galas where everyone just does their speciality turn, though all the skaters in the Imperial Ice Stars company can certainly jump to it when it comes to difficult salchows, axels and spins. So what kind of treat is Sleeping Beauty on Ice?

Well, in some ways it harks back to the glitzy oomph and escapism of Hollywood musicals. It has that wonderful Russian mindset of "more is more" which cheerfully reckons that a pretty forest idyll can embrace a few extra thrills for the audience . . . so one bluebird flies high with some aerial acrobatics and a butterfly whizzes in on stilt-skates. Underneath the swooshing sounds of busy blades comes another sound: gasps of amazement from an audience happy to go with the flamboyant flow of this hugely entertaining production.

Just in case you don't already know the story, there are narrated links. Mind you, as Maria Borovikova's Carabosse slices across the ice like a venomous whirlwind, it's clear that from top-to-fishnetted toe of her Goth weeds that she's no Good Fairy. That role is serenely filled by Olga Sharoutenko who ensures that the dainty winsome Aurora (Mandy Woetzel) finds a dream partner in Vadim Yarkov's Prince, who promptly sweeps her into breath-taking high lifts. No wonder Anton Klykov's Catalabutte turns cartwheels, just one of the dazzling feats that seem second nature to his comically ditsy courtier. In all, probably the most fun you'll find on ice as the weather turns chillier.