‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ STIRS

“The Sleeping Beauty,” to be danced by New York City Ballet this week at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, was first staged at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890, in a sumptuous production that could only have been funded by a bottomless Imperial purse.

And it was. Czar Alexander III reached into his financial reserves to help fund this and other productions (of opera as well as ballet) at the Imperial Theatres.

The rubles went to import silks and velvets for the costumes and to pay for the large number of dancers. The Garland Waltz, for instance, required no fewer than 64 dancers: 16 men, 16 women, 16 boys and 16 girls.

Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky, director of the Imperial Theatres from 1883 to 1899, had proposed the subject and the libretto of the ballet to Tchaikovsky and to choreographer Marius Petipa. When it was published, Tchaikovsky dedicated the score to Vsevolozhsky.

Ironically, the czar’s comment to Tchaikovsky after seeing the work at the first general rehearsal was a rather dry, “Very nice.” The composer recorded the remark in his diary, and added five frustrated exclamation points after the quote.

Although “Sleeping Beauty” grew increasingly popular in Russia after its premiere, it was virtually unknown outside the country. Only two excerpts had been danced in England before Serge Diaghilev’s venture to reproduce it in a comparably sumptuous production created for London in 1921.

But Diaghilev made a rare and costly miscalculation of his audience’s interest. Planned to run for a full six months, “The Sleeping Beauty” closed after three months and 104 performances, with London audiences unprepared for the impresario’s apparent step backward from his 20th-Century innovations. Diaghilev and his sensational company, the Ballets Russes, went bankrupt.

For two decades, few companies would run that risk again.

But the challenge of showing audiences the summit of 19th-Century Russian Classicism remained a goal for companies.

Eventually, “The Sleeping Beauty” began to revive: Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) danced it in 1939 and 1946, taking it to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1949. Other productions followed.

What Orange County will see is New York City Ballet master in chief Peter Martins’ controversial 1991 creation. He has streamlined the traditional production, editing its four acts to two and reducing its overall length from about four hours (with three intermissions) to 2 1/2 (with one).

He has retained the standard choreography credited to Petipa for the title role--Aurora--and incorporated Balanchine’s 1981 choreography for the Garland Waltz. (As a child, Balanchine had danced in the Garland Waltz on the stage of the Maryinsky, which also was home of the Imperial Ballet School, where he trained as a dancer.)

Nonetheless, Martins’ production is being billed as City Ballet’s “grandest ever,” using more than 100 dancers and 250 costumes and costing $2.8 million.

Three ballerinas will dance the role of Aurora in Orange County: Darci Kistler (on Oct. 14, 16 and 19), Kyra Nichols (Oct. 15, 17 matinee, and 20), and Nichol Hlinka (Oct 16 matinee, and Oct. 17.)

Their Princes Desires will be Damian Woetzel (Oct. 14), Ben Huys (Oct. 16 and 19), Lindsay Fischer (Oct. 15, 17 matinee, and 20) and Peter Boal (Oct. 16 matinee, and 17).

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What

New York City Ballet dances “The Sleeping Beauty.”

When

Oct. 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20 at 8 p.m.; also Oct. 16 and 17 at 2 p.m., and Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Where

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts

Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Avenue and exit north to Town Center Drive and go right. The center will be on your left.

Wherewithal

$18 to $58.

Where to call

(714) 556-2787.