Download Matthew Bourne`s SLEEPING BEAUTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
Contact: Jason Swank
(216) 241-8666
[email protected]
Attention Editors: for photos, video and other multimedia assets,
please visit playhousesquare.org/presskit
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
Matthew Bourne’s
SLEEPING BEAUTY
Music by Tchaikovsky
A New Adventures Production
Directed and Choreographed by Matthew Bourne
“Wonderful. Bourne’s clever gothic re-write has discovered
something beguiling.” - The Guardian, London
‘Extraordinary. Fantastic. Dazzling. Masterful’- Sunday Express, London
‘This Sleeping Beauty is destined to wake up and find itself a
worldwide smash-hit’ - Mail on Sunday, London
“A masterly storyteller… this is Bourne at his best” - New York Times
PlayhouseSquare will present the Cleveland premiere of Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed SLEEPING
BEAUTY for a limited engagement, October 1-13 at the Palace Theatre as part of the 2013-2014
KeyBank Broadway Series. Tickets are on sale now!
Matthew Bourne’s SLEEPING BEAUTY sees Britain’s most famed choreographer return to the music
of Tchaikovsky to complete the trio of the composer’s ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with
Nutcracker! and continued in 1995, with the international hit Swan Lake.
“This production of SLEEPING BEAUTY is the fulfillment of a great ambition, to choreograph the three
great Tchaikovsky ballets and was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my company, New
Adventures, last year. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to bring this glorious production to
American audiences, who have always been so welcoming of my work,” said Matthew Bourne.
Charles Perrault’s timeless fairy tale about a young girl cursed to sleep for one hundred years was turned
into a legendary ballet by Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa in 1890. Bourne takes this date
as his starting point, setting the christening of Aurora, the story’s heroine, at the height of the fin-de-siecle
period, when fairies and decadent opulence fed the gothic imagination. As Aurora grows into a young
woman, we move forward in time to the more rigid, uptight Edwardian era - a mythical golden age of
long summer afternoons, croquet on the lawn and new dance crazes. Years later, awakening from her
century-long slumber, Aurora finds herself in the modern day, a world more mysterious and wonderful
than any fairy tale.
Bourne’s new scenario introduces several characters not seen in the fairy tale or in Petipa’s famous ballet.
The Royal Family is presided over by King Benedict and Queen Eleanor. Princess Aurora’s romantic
interest is not a Prince, but the royal gamekeeper, Leo. Representing the central forces of good and evil
are Count Lilac (“the King of the Fairies”) and the Dark Fairy Carabosse. Bourne has created the
character of Caradoc, the sinister but charming son of Carabosse. Princess Aurora’s Fairy Godparents are
named Ardor, Hiberna, Autumnus, Feral and Tantrum.
Matthew Bourne’s SLEEPING BEAUTY is a gothic romance for all ages: the traditional tale of good vs.
evil and rebirth is turned upside-down, creating a supernatural love story that even the passage of time
cannot hinder.
The SLEEPING BEAUTY creative team includes three of Bourne’s regular collaborators and New
Adventures Associate Artists; The Tony® and Olivier Award-winning designers Lez Brotherston (Set
and Costumes), Paule Constable (Lighting) and Paul Groothuis (Sound Design) who created the
acclaimed surround-sound for Bourne’s recent hit production of Cinderella.
Tickets can be purchased online at PlayhouseSquare.org, by calling 216-241-6000, or in person at the
PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office at 1519 Euclid Avenue. For groups of 15 or more, call 216-640-8600.
Attention Editors: for photos, video and other multimedia assets, please visit
playhousesquare.org/presskit
For more information on Matthew Bourne and SLEEPING BEAUTY, visit http://www.newadventures.net/productions/sleeping_beauty
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MATTHEW BOURNE
Matthew Bourne is widely hailed as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer/ director. He is the creator
of the world’s longest running ballet production (Swan Lake), a five-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British
director to have won Tony Awards for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical. Matthew Bourne
has been the Artistic Director of New Adventures (formally Adventures in Motion Pictures) since 1987. During
those 25 years he has created new audiences for dance with groundbreaking work both at home and internationally,
including Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Car Man, Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian
Gray and Sleeping Beauty.
Bourne has also choreographed several major revivals of classic musicals, including Cameron Mackintosh’s
productions of Oliver! (1994 and 2009) and My Fair Lady (2002). In 2004 Bourne co-directed (with Richard Eyre)
and choreographed (with Stephen Mear) the West End and Broadway hit, Mary Poppins.
Matthew Bourne has twice been nominated as Best Director at the Olivier Awards and his achievements in
choreography have been recognized with over 50 international awards including The Evening Standard Award,
South Bank Show Award, Time Out Award and the Astaire Award for Dance on Broadway. In the 2001 New Years
Honours, Matthew was awarded an OBE for Services to Dance from HM The Queen and in 2003 he was the
recipient of the prestigious Hamburg Shakespeare Prize for the Arts. In 2010 he was the first recipient of The British
Inspiration Award.
Bourne is a Resident Artist at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, where New Adventures was invited to be Resident
Company in 2006.
NEW ADVENTURES
New Adventures is the UK’s most in demand contemporary Dance/Theatre touring company. Under the inspired
leadership of Artistic Director, Matthew Bourne, it has, over the last 25 years, changed the landscape of British
dance with an award-winning repertory of works that have brought unprecedented new audiences to theatres
throughout the UK and internationally. Matthew Bourne and his team of world-class collaborators have consistently
produced some of the most successful dance productions ever staged. Since it’s formation in 2002, New
Adventures has created an enviable repertory of acclaimed new works (Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands,
Dorian Gray, Lord Of The Flies and Sleeping Beauty) as well as new productions of popular favourites from
Matthew Bourne’s former company, Adventures In Motion Pictures (1987-2002) - Nutcracker!, Swan Lake,
Highland Fling, The Car Man, Cinderella and the mixed programme Early Adventures. The Company regularly
employs over 60 dancers annually, and they are widely 3ecognized as the finest group of actor/dancers working in
the UK today.
New Adventures is proud to be Resident Company at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London where it regularly performs
record-breaking extended seasons. The company annually undertakes extensive country-wide touring, appearing at
more venues and giving more performances each year than any other UK dance company. British dance’s biggest
export for over 10 years, New Adventures has performed seasons at the world’s most iconic venues (Sydney Opera
House, New York City Center, The Chatalet in Paris, The Kennedy Center, Washington and The Moscow Arts
Theatre) the most prestigious Festivals (Edinburgh, Ravenna and Chekhov International Festivals) and regular tours
to Japan, the USA, Australia, Europe and Russia.
Mixing popular appeal with a groundbreaking and unique theatrical language, New Adventures is one of the great
success stories of British Theatre. The Company has notched up a staggering ten Olivier nominations for it’s
productions, has won the Manchester Evening News Dance Award four times and was given a Special TMA award
for its commitment to national touring.
New Adventures has also been a pioneer in taking dance to wider audiences through the medium of film. Matthew
Bourne’s Nutcracker! is the only full length dance production to be shown on BBC1 in the last 30 years; A studio
adaptation of The Car Man is still a dance bestseller, and the recent recording of Swan Lake by Sky Arts 3D became
the first ballet to be shot in 3D for cinema and DVD release.
In 2008 the company created it’s charitable wing, Re:Bourne, which aims to inspire and encourage young people
and adults, with a year round programme of creative projects, workshops and educational initiatives based on the
New Adventures ethos of dance theatre. This was followed in 2010 by the launch of The New Adventures
Choreographer Award (NACA) which showcases the work of a young choreographer, and was created to honour
Bourne’s 50th Birthday.
Last year’s 25th Anniversary celebration saw the company performing six diverse works at 32 UK venues. This
culminated in the World Premiere of Matthew Bourne’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty in October
2012.
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