Reviews & Press Clippings

This first-ever British tour of Sleeping Beauty on Ice by Russia’s Imperial Ice Stars is a magnificent spectacle and within two days of Boogie Nights 2, the Mayflower stage contained 14 tonnes of ice and ten miles of pipes hidden under the rink. The stage transformation is well worth all the hard work and is a scintillating production.

From the breathtaking opening scene this show never loses any impact. The skaters, who include former World and European champions, are breathtaking and their speed at times is awesome. With glorious costumes, Tchaikovsky’s memorable music, flying sequences, ingenious choreography, innovative lighting and, of course, such an enjoyable story, this production has just about everything. The idea of using actor Bill Kerr as the Narrator is important and keeps the audience right up with the story.

Mandy Woetzel, a former world and European skating champion, is fantastic as Princess Aurora and her skating scenes with Vadim Yarkov (Prince Desire) are among the most spectacular in the show. Anton Klykov, as Catalabutte, steals the show. He is quite remarkable with his speed, personality, enthusiasm and supreme showmanship. His performance is the talking point as the audience leaves.

At times there are 19 skaters on stage and many feature in enthralling scenes including the Prince’s hunting party, an enchanted forest, with butterflies and airborne bluebirds, and Carabosse’s anger. I would love to have booed Carabosse, the villain of the story, but after the brilliant skating of Maria Borovikova it did not seem appropriate. To cap it all, Yulia Krasinskaia, who also doubles as the Queen, does a sensational routine on ice stilts. It brings roars of approval.