SLEEPING BEAUTY

“Sleeping beauty”

musical fable

 

Project: Leszek Żebrowski
A musical fable for children and adults, according to the fable of the French Baroque fairy tale writer Charles Perrault. An amazing story about a beautiful Princess who, as a result of a cruel prophecy of the Fire Fairy, fell into a hundred-year sleep. The Water Fairy softened the evil spell by promising that after a hundred years a young man from the royal family would appear, who would bring the Princess back to life. The show delights with acting, interesting and colorful costumes and wonderfully selected music, played and sung live. Intelligent wit and playing with convention will satisfy both the younger and the older part of the audience.

Credits

Screenplay, direction, stage movement composition: Jadwiga Leśniak-Jankowska
Music: Pyotr Tchaikovsky (selected compositions from the ballet Sleeping Beauty), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (selected fragments from the opera The Marriage of Figaro), Edward Zawiliński (couplets, polonaise)
Musical arrangement: Dawid Sulej Rudnicki
Musical direction: Waldemar Groń
Set design, costumes: Natalia Horak
Choreography: Marta Mirocka (based on the original choreography by Marius Petipa)

Actors:
Narrator: Jadwiga Leśniak – Jankowska Queen: Anna Warchał
Fairy of the Fire: Izabela Kubrak / Katarzyna Osipuk
Prince: Jakub Krawczyk King: Maciej Rutkowski

Ballet:
Sleeping Beauty: Weronika Bartold / Dominika Malaga
Fairy of the Earth: Ewelina Bochenek
Fairy of the Sun: Alicja Billewicz / Katarzyna Domanus
Fairy of the Water: Agnieszka Reiser
Servant Maid: Małgorzata Topolska
Servant Maid: Ewa Gandzel
Chamberlain: Piotr Malaga

The Krakow Chamber Opera Orchestra
Violin I: Karolina Bartczyszyn
Violin II: Barbara Szpakiewicz / Maria Boroń
Viola: Sylwia Wojtowicz
Cello: Karolina Kalinowska / Magdalena Cymer
Flute: Ewa Tupik
Clarinet: Andrzej Ruciński / Mariusz Stępień
Keyboard instruments: Dawid Sulej Rudnicki

Photos

fot. Paweł Zechenter

 

fot. Beata Godynia, Natalia Horak, Paweł Zechenter

 

Royal Castle in Niepołomice

fot. Paweł Zechenter

Reviews

The royal performance for the youngest

The Sunday evening of 24 October in the Niepołomice castle was devoted to children – especially for the youngest, the performance of “The Sleeping Beauty” took place. The number of children fulfilled, if not exceeded the expectations of the organizers. The acoustic chamber of the royal castle was bursting with people. Additional seats needed to be brought, and still part of the audience admired the performance standing. And there was something to admire.

The performance of “The Sleeping Beauty” staged in the Niepołomice castle was prepared and presented by the Kraków Chamber Opera. It was a musical fable for children and for adults, based on the work by French baroque fabulist Charles Perrault, who is famous for his collection of fables. The play included three good fairies, and one slightly less good, and the royal parents, and most importantly the Princess and the Prince, for whose appearance everyone waited, holding their breaths. The performance charmed with the acting, interesting costumes, music played and sung live and danced by the fairies-ballerinas. The children strived to see every detail of the play, stretched their necks with curiosity and even kneeled or stood on their seats. It was an extraordinary artistic experience.

There hadn’t been any performance for children in Niepołomice for a long time. One can be glad that when it finally took place, it was not only interesting, but presented the high artistic value. The event was organised by the Cultural Centre in Niepołomice.

Webpage of town and province of Niepołomice
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
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The dance fable in the opera

Grand ballet, the ballet-féerie in the Chamber Opera? Contradictio in se. This is why the maker of the Sunday premi?re in Kraków Chamber Opera at Miodowa Street, the writer and director – Jadwiga Leśniak-Jankowska – tried to approach the subject (the Sleeping Beauty ballet with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s music) in a different way. And so she did.

Those who value the smart wit and playing with conventions should be satisfied with the performance by Kraków Chamber Opera. Even more so since the septet conducted by Waldemar Broń sounded good, the acting of Anna Warchał (as the Queen well endowed with vis comica) and Jadwiga Leśniak-Jankowska (the Narrator) was delicious, the opera vocals by Piotr Kumon mighty and the flexibility of Dominika Bialik (the Princess) and Jakub Krawczyk (the Prince) graceful. Finally, there was the dainty Anna Wodyńska (the Fire Fairy), who was perfect in acting, vocals and dancing and rightfully received the greatest applause. It was worth coming to Miodowa Street just for her deeply saucy and sparklingly clean coloraturas, staining the idyllic flowers-and-butterflies duet.

It is worth coming to Miodowa Street – why? To tear the children away from TV and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. To tear yourself away from the childhood cliché (however beautiful it might be). To wake the child inside you and enliven the adult. And… To see the Sleeping Beauty woken away from the convention.

 

Monika Partyk
Dziennik Polski, 26 January 2011

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