SLEEPING BEAUTY ON ICE, THE MAYFLOWER, SOUTHAMPTON
THE Imperial Ice Stars are billed as the “world’s leading performers of theatrical ice dance”, so we went to The Mayflower expecting something spectacular.
But Sleeping Beauty on Ice was a disappointment on several levels – the set was rather bland and seemed prone to technical hitches, the costumes wouldn’t have looked out of place in a pantomime and the music was piped rather than live.
There were redeeming features; the portrayals of the Lilac Fairy and of Carabosse were excellent, and the aerial exploits of Volodymyr Khodakivskyy and Olga Tataurova drew gasps of admiration from the audience.
The show was likeable, but it was just not as polished as you would expect it to be.
The fact that the audience let out a goodnatured cheer when the Prince finally landed a difficult jump (in the encore, on his third go at it) served to highlight earlier deficiencies.
When something is billed so highly, you expect it to deliver. And some of the magic cannot help but disappear into a puff of over-abundant dry ice when your heart is in your mouth as you wonder if someone might get hurt.
Sleeping Beauty on Ice runs until this Saturday.
MORWENNA BLAKE
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