1
), and some of the mime like during Little Red's bit. I admit I also miss odd, but charming details from the reconstruction like Carabosse being at the wedding. I love that they still do the Hop O' My Thumb divertissement, though (I don't think any other current production I know of--aside from the reconstruction of course--does it, and I always like when they have these brief kids numbers--Mere Gignon in Nutcracker reminds me of it too.) I know there's always the temptation to cut the divertissements--it's late in the night, etc--ABT's production feels like the wedding is a rush job--but by that point of the night, personally, I like to relax and just watch the final dances.I have the "official" Bolshoi book of Sleeping Beauty (I have a similar book for Raymonda), that was released from some Soviet/American publisher (along with a number of other volumes I never found). Grigorovich explains his production, and he obviously put a lot of thought behind it-=-he felt that it was important to include bits like the spinning women at the top of Act I. I actually don't mind his staging--it's one of the better of the Grigorovich reconstructions, but before the redesign anyway (which I'm not all sold on) it did have horrible wigs, and Virsaladze, who did lovely designs for the Kirov's, does a much more abstract design here (which seemed to be what Grigorovich always got him to do--his work on his ballets is far more abstract than in Leningrad). He does include Cinderella (or did--I can't remember if she's in the new production), though no Hop O' My Thumb.
The vision scene in the reconstruction makes a lot more sense than in Sergeyev's version. The choreography is often similar, but in the original it's clear that the naids (or whatever they're meant to be
) are always getting in the way and keeping the Prince just out of reach of Aurora.
