Sleeping Beauty Wakes is a musical with book by Rachel Sheinkin, who won a Tony Award for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and a pop score[1] by composer Brendan Milburn and lyricist Valerie Vigoda,[2] two members of the indie music trio GrooveLily. The show is a twist on the classic Charles Perrault fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.[1] In this modern-day version, Rose is brought to a sleep-disorder clinic to wake her from her 900-year nap.

The musical was presented from March 31 to May 20, 2007 at the Kirk Douglas Theater of the Center Theatre Group[3] in Los Angeles, California as a co-production with Deaf West Theater. It was directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun. In the spring of 2011, the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey staged a revised version of the show directed by Rebecca Taichman, which removed all the Deaf elements.[1][4] The version of the show also ran at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California in the summer of 2011, as a co-production with the McCarter.[1][5]

The Center Theatre Group/Deaf West co-production received generally positive reviews and was ultimately honored with 10 Ovation Award nominations, winning in 2 categories.[6]

In his review of the 2007 production in Variety, Bob Verini had only positive things to say about the performances, particularly singling out "Faye Dunaway look-alike Deanne Bray and superb singing partner Erika Amato," but felt that "it's the narrative that suffers from a split-personality disorder."[7]

The Los Angeles Times review of the 2011 La Jolla production found Charles McNulty praising the show for "freely mix[ing] medical science with pixie dust" and said that "the inherent charm of the piece captivates our imagination even as the flaws peek through", but finally wrote that "the show's ambition [to be the next Wicked] seems to be pulling the work away from its strength as a musical comedy chamber piece. The enchantment is visible, but too much of it remains trapped in a glass case, like a waxwork Sleeping Beauty at a theme park."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 McNulty, Charles (July 27, 2011) "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" (review) Los Angeles Times
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" Archived 2015-07-03 at the Wayback Machine Center Theatre Group website
  4. ↑ "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" McCarter Theatre website
  5. ↑ "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" La Jolla Playhouse website
  6. ↑ "Can-Can, Kaye, Felder, Lewis and Jersey Boys Win 2007 L.A. Ovation Awards". Playbill.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  7. ↑ Verini, Bob (April 9, 2007) "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" review, Variety
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