Acclaim for Sleeping Beauty. Find out what the critics said.
AWARDS
MANCHESTER THEATRE AWARDS 2013
WINNER - "BEST DANCE PRODUCTION"
OLIVIER AWARDS 2013
Nominee - "OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE" Lez Brotherston for his Set and Costume Designs
NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS 2012
Nominee - "OUTSTANDING COMPANY" - New Adventures
NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS 2013
Nominee - "BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY" - Matthew Bourne
Nominee - "OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE" Hannah Vassallo
Nominee - "OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE" - Christopher Marney
WINNER - "DE VALOIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT" - Matthew Bourne
LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS
Winner - "BEST CHOREOGRAPHY" - Matthew Bourne
Winner - "BEST COSTUME DESIGN" - Lez Brotherston
Winner - "BEST LIGHTING DESIGN" - Paule Constable
"The year's standout show was Matthew Bourne's enchanting Sleeping Beauty"
Rupert Christiansen The Mail On Sunday "Best Of the year in Dance" Dec 2013
PRESS QUOTES FROM OUR USA TOUR
October - December 2013
‘MATTHEW BOURNE, THE PREMIER ICONOCLAST OF ENGLISH DANCE’
‘THE MOST POPULAR CHOREOGRAPHER OF THEATRICAL DANCE IN THE WESTERN WORLD’
The New Yorker
"THIS IS BOURNE AT HIS BEST - A MASTERFUL STORYTELLER"
The New York Times
‘BOURNE DELIGHTS WITH HIS INCREDIBLE IMAGINATION. IT IS HIS ABILITY TO UNLOCK THE STORY-TELLING POWER OF DANCE THAT BRINGS THESE BALLETS BACK TO LIFE’
‘VIVIDLY RE-IMAGINED’
Huffington Post
‘BOURNE’S VIVID UPDATE IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE IMAGINATION AND ORIGINALITY THAT HAVE MARKED THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S DANCE PRODUCTIONS’
Wall Street Journal
‘THE AWARD-WINNING BRITISH CHOREOGRAPHER HAS ONCE AGAIN PROVED HIMSELF TO BE NOT ONLY A GIFTED DANCEMAKER BUT A MASTERFUL STORYTELLER’
‘BOURNE’S VERSION IS A SLEEPING BEAUTY DESTINED TO BECOME AN ENDURING FAVOURITE’
‘THE SUPERB ORIGINAL CAST OF WORLD CLASS DANCERS FROM BOURNE’S NEW ADVENTURES COMPANY’
Broadway World (New York)
‘SPECTACULAR’
New York – Village Voice
‘THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING AND VISUALLY STUNNING’
‘IT IS REFRESHING TO SEE A CHOREOGRAPHER UNRESTRAINED YET UNDENIABLY INFORMED BY TRADITION AND FORM. BOURNE KNOWS THE RULES AND HE ALSO KNOWS HOW TO BREAK THEM IN MAGNIFICENT STYLE’
Theater Mania (New York)
‘MATTHEW BOURNE HAS CHANGED CLASSICAL BALLET INTO SHEER - OFTEN OUTRAGEOUS, OFTEN DELICIOUS – ENTERTAINMENT’
‘THE DECOR AND COSTUMES, BY LEZ BROTHERSTON, ARE NOT MERELY LAVISH AND IMPRESSIVE, BUT UTTERLY SINGULAR’
Arts Journal, New York
‘AN EVENING OF DELIGHTS’
Edge (New York)
‘LEZ BROTHERSTON’S SETS AND COSTUMES ARE MAGICAL’
Dance Beat (New York)
‘AN EXCITING, BRILLIANTLY PERFORMED STORY FILLED WITH LAUGHTER, INTRIGUE, GOTHIC OVERTONES AND WONDERFUL COSTUMES. A SWIRL OF BREATHTAKING VISUAL WONDER’
‘MATTHEW BOURNE IS A CHOREOGRAPHIC GENIUS’
‘AN ABSOLUTE MUST-SEE’
Broadway World (Cleveland)
‘ENTERTAINING AND INTRIGUING’
‘STUNNING’
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
‘SPECTACULAR. THE SETS ARE OPULENT, THE MUSIC IS STIRRING. THE DANCING IS ABSOLUTELY PRECISE’
‘MATTHEW BOURNE’S SLEEPING BEAUTY IS AN AMAZING PRODUCTION OF EPIC PROPORTIONS THAT WILL DAZZLE EVEN THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN BALLET BEFORE’
Cleveland Fine Arts Examiner
‘LUSH STAGING, ELABORATE STORYTELLING AND THRILLING DANCE SWEEP AUDIENCES AWAY IN MATTHEW BOURNE’S STUNNINGLY DRAMATIC VERSION OF SLEEPING BEAUTY’
‘INTOXICATING’
‘BOURNE’S SLEEPING BEAUTY IS A SMASH HIT, DRAWING DROVES OF MUSICAL THEATER AUDIENCES INTO DANCE’
Cleveland – Akron Beacon Journal
‘YOU HAVE TO SEE MATTHEW BOURNE’S LUXURIOUS NEW BALLET WITH YOUR OWN EYES TO UNDERSTAND JUST HOW BEAUTIFULLY SOMEONE CAN DRIFT OFF TO DREAMLAND’
Des Moines Register
‘SLEEPING BEAUTY IS AS IMAGINATIVE, EXPANSIVE AND STUNNING AS THE BEST PRODUCTIONS OFFERED ON BROADWAY’
‘FANTASTIC. VISUALLY BREATHTAKING. EVERY SET PIECE, COSTUME, LIGHTING DETAIL AND PROP IS STUNNING’
Broadway World (Des Moines)
‘SENSUAL, SUMPTUOUS, DEEPLY MOVING AND UNEXPECTEDLY WITTY’
‘EXTRAORDINARY. UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN’
The Plain Dealer (Des Moines)
'DESTINED TO BECOME AN ENDURING FAVOURITE"
Broadway World (New York)
'A GORGEOUS, GOTHIC, VAMPIRE FILLED ROMANCE. MR BOURNE’S SLEEPING BEAUTY IS A MARVEL OF REINVENTION’
Washington DC Theatre Scene
‘LIKE A MUSICAL THAT JUST HAPPENS TO BE DANCED, SLEEPING BEAUTY WAS EMBRACED NOT ONLY BY DANCE AFFICIONADOS BUT BY THOSE WHO WOULDN’T NORMALLY BE CAUGHT DEAD (OR AWAKE) AT THE BALLET’
Washington DC Metro
‘THINGS DON’T HAPPEN AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT IN MATTHEW BOURNE’S SPECTACULAR AND ULTIMATELY MOVING SLEEPING BEAUTY. MORE HIGH-DRAMA MUSICAL THEATER THAN BALLET’
Washington Post
‘HIS GLORIOUSLY IMPURE STYLE OF MOVEMENT THEATER MAKES THE CASE FOR DANCE EXPRESSION TO A LARGE LOCAL AUDIENCE IN A WAY THAT ONLY TOURING BROADWAY DANCE-MUSICALS CAN SURPASS’
‘FRESHNESS, EXCITEMENT AND BRILLIANT THEATRICAL INVENTION’'
The Los Angeles Times
‘VIBRANTLY IMAGINATIVE, MAGICAL AND FASCINATING TO WATCH’
‘BOURNE’S WORK IS A PHENOMENON’
‘LEZ BROTHERSTON’S SETS AND COSTUMES ARE INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS. A WORD OF PRAISE TO PAULE CONSTABLE FOR HER WONDERFUL MOOD LIGHTING AND PAUL GROOTHUIS FOR HIS MAGNIFICENT SOUND DESIGN’
Broadway World (Los Angeles)
‘BOURNE’S IMPRESSIVE TRACK RECORD THROUGH 25 YEARS WITH HIS COMPANY NEW ADVENTURES IS BUILT ON A LANGUAGE OF MOVEMENT THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO DANCE AFICIONADOS AND NOVICES ALIKE’
‘THE OTHER STAR IS SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER LEZ BROTHERSTON, WHO DELIVERS SUMPTUOUS VISUALS’
Downtown News Los Angeles
‘ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL AND DARING CHOREOGRAPHERS IN THE BUSINESS, MATTHEW BOURNE CONSISTENTLY CREATES BALLETS THAT ARE CLEVER, FUNNY, DARING AND SPECTACULAR’
‘I WAS JUST DAZZLED BY IT AS IF I WAS WATCHING A FULL-FLEDGED FANTASY FILM. IT IS PHENOMENAL ENTERTAINMENT’
Edges Los Angeles
‘MATTHEW BOURNE’S ADVENTUROUS RESTAGING OF ONE OF THE CLASSICAL REPERTOIRE’S MOST FAMOUS BALLETS BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO NOT ONLY THE TALE ITSELF, BUT INTO BALLET AS A MODERN AND RELEVANT ART FORM’
LA Weekly
A SELECTION OF PRESS QUOTES FROM OUR WORLD PREMIERE IN LONDON - DECEMBER 2012
‘Wonderful. Bourne’s clever gothic re-write.
Beguiling and true’
The Guardian
‘Strikingly fresh....Witty, inventive and touching’
Mail on Sunday
‘Bourne’s exuberant re-imagining.
An action packed evening greeted with cheers’
The Times
‘Tongue in cheek humour, contemporary references
and accessible theatrical dance’
Time Out
‘Extraordinary. Fantastic. Dazzling. Masterful.’
Sunday Express
‘ **** (4 STARS) Ravishing. The choreography is a joy.
Bourne’s got another hit on his hands’
The Scotsman
‘Bourne has a collaborator of genius: Lez Brotherston,
whose designs are both visually exciting
and a vital part of the story-telling’
The New York Times
‘Rendered in absolutely exquisite style’
Daily Telegraph
‘It all works to absolute perfection –
I loved every bit of it and I was not alone’’
The Spectator
‘An eye-popping gothic delight,
its best moments are unforgettable’
The Observer
‘Britain’s most successful choreographer
will blow your mind with his sheer imagination, wit and brio’
The Times
‘This Sleeping Beauty is destined to wake up
and find itself a worldwide smash hit’
Mail on Sunday
‘Tchaikovsky’s intoxicating music comes magically to life
through Bourne’s theatrical inventiveness
and richly textured choreography’
The Spectator
‘The hottest ticket in town’
Sunday Express
‘ ***** (5 STARS) Sumptuous, dramatic , eerie and captivating,
the list of approving adjectives could go on and on.
A many splendoured thing.’
The Scottish Herald
‘A tightly choreographed delight’
Metro
‘A Sleeping Beauty for today!
One conceived especially for the young and those young at heart’
The Spectator
‘Luscious, dramatic and smart.
Visually sumptuous and action-packed’
The Sunday Times
‘Lez Brotherston’s designs are magnificent’
The Independent
‘Bourne...brilliant at emotional truth
and a fresh approach to familiar dance narratives
that make them resonate in new ways’
The New York Times
‘Imagine Downton Abbey turned into a Tim Burton movie.
Bourne’s best show since Swan Lake.
Mail on Sunday
‘Lez Brotherston’s superb designs,
Paule Constable’s fabulous lighting’
The Spectator
