[Review] César Morales’ farewell performances in Sleeping Beauty with Birmingham Royal Ballet
Jonathan Gray sees César Morales in The Sleeping Beauty as he says farewell to Birmingham Royal Ballet
| Title | The Sleeping Beauty |
| Company | Birmingham Royal Ballet |
| Venue | Birmingham Hippodrome |
| Date | 22 February 2024 |
| Reviewer | Jonathan Gray |
Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) brought Peter Wright‘s staging of Marius Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty back into the repertoire for the start of 2024. The production has served the company for nearly 40 years but, to speak true, it is beginning to look a little tired. Philip Prowse’s sets and costumes, designed for the rigours of national and international touring, looked magnificent when they were new back in the 1980s, but tastes have changed, and now the acres of shiny gold fabric Prowse deploys for the costumes looks a little dated. Textually, Wright’s version of the traditional choreography also seems a little jaded, and some of his fussy tinkering with the dances, particularly the solos for the fairies in the Prologue, are not an improvement. Perhaps it is time for BRB to rethink the production, but with the recent announcement that Birmingham City Council is to dramatically cut its funding to the arts, that possibility now seems highly unlikely. Nevertheless, this version of Beauty provides a good, solid base for the company’s dancers and, by attending the matinée performance at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 22nd February, I was able to catch Chilean-born principal dancer César Morales in his penultimate appearance with BRB before he leaves to become the new artistic director of the Ballet de Santiago.
Slim, fine-boned, and eternally youthful, I have always thought of Morales as the Peter Pan of British ballet, but it is also worth remembering that he has been dancing in the UK for nearly 20 years, first with English National Ballet, and then, from 2008, with BRB. He has always been an elegant, understated artist, his technical finesse and quiet, romantic presence particularly suited to the princely roles in Swan Lake and Giselle, but he has also shone in works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, most notably in Symphonic Variations, Enigma Variations and Romeo and Juliet, and he was superb as The Stranger in Gillian Lynne’s recreation of Robert Helpmann‘s Miracle in the Gorbals in 2014. Morales’ many achievements were recognised in 2021 when he was presented with the Dancing Times Best Male Dancer Award at the National Dance Awards.
At the beginning of his career, Morales was a relatively inexperienced partner to his ballerinas, but over the years he has grown into a superb, consummate cavalier. This was especially true of his performance as Prince Florimund in Beauty, where he guided Beatrice Parma through her debut as Princess Aurora, anticipating her every need in a tricky balance, and supporting her with ease through each difficulty and technical hurdle – those nerve-wracking “fish dives” in the Act III Wedding pas de deux have seldom looked so simple and effortless. Morales’ dancing, too, retained all of the qualities that have always marked him out: clean, clear, precise, unshowy, yet confident. He has never been one for showy tricks or vulgar excess in his performances, and I will sorely miss the grace and self-deprecating qualities he has always brought to his dancing. Audiences have just one more opportunity, on 28th February, to see him performing with Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Tiny, neat and fleet-footed, Beatrice Parma made a highly accomplished debut as Aurora, taking to the stage with confidence from her first entrance, and tackling the challenge of the treacherous Rose Adagio in Act I with ease and authority. Best of all, she danced the choreography with utter clarity, every moment and every step clearly articulated, and absolutely no skimping, no shirking, or cheating. In years gone by, Parma would have been described as a “soubrette” or a demi-caractère dancer, but at this performance she more than demonstrated her classical ballerina potential.
Although BRB gave a generally sound account of Beauty at this matinée, the soloists did not equal Parma and Morales in quality, although I was impressed by the vivid dancing of Frieda Kaden as The Fairy of Temperament in the Prologue, and that of Rachele Pizzillo as Princess Florine, and Ryan Felix and Eric Pinto Cata in the Act III Pas de quatre. Regan Hutsell was surprisingly jolly as the wicked fairy, Carabosse, with little sense of menace. Conductor Philip Ellis introduced some welcome pace to Tchaikovsky’s music, which was generally well played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
Jonathan Gray was editor of Dancing Times from 2008 to 2022.
He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. He was on the Curatorial Staff of the Theatre Museum, London, from 1989 to 2005, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty.
Jonathan Gray has also contributed to the Financial Times and The Guardian, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005. He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
“an elegant, understated artist, his technical finesse and quiet, romantic presence” Spot on, Jonathan. I shall miss him – but it’s a great move for him and the Santiago company.