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The Sleeping Beauty story |
Prologue
The Christening
King Florestan and his Queen celebrate the christening of Princess Aurora. Their special guests are her fairy godmothers who bestow magic gifts of beauty, temperament, purity, joy, wit and generosity. Just as the Lilac Fairy is to present her gift, the Fairy Carabosse, whose invitation has been overlooked by the Master of Ceremonies, arrives and pronounces, in revenge for the insult, that Aurora will one day prick her finger and die.
However, the curse is confounded by the Lilac Fairy’s promise that Aurora will not die but rather fall into a deep sleep from which she will be awakened one hundred years later by a Prince’s kiss.
Act I
The Spell
It is Princess Aurora’s sixteenth birthday and four princes seek her hand during the festivities. An unknown guest approaches her with an unusual gift, a spindle. While looking at it, Aurora pricks her finger and, after revealing her disguise, Carabosse vanishes. The Lilac Fairy appears and casts a spell of sleep over the Palace and all its people. At her command, the Palace is covered by a forest until the promised awakening.
Act II
The Vision
One hundred years have passed. Prince Désiré is hunting with members of his court. Strangely unhappy, he seeks solitude to reflect on his ideal love. The Lilac Fairy appears, presents a vision of Aurora, and Prince Désiré pleads with her to take him to the place where the lovely vision
sleeps.
After a journey, they come to an overgrown palace where, following a confrontation between the forces of good and evil, the Prince awakens Aurora with a kiss. The spell is broken and Carabosse and her attendants disappear, vanquished.
Act III
The Wedding
The Court is jubilant for the wedding celebrations of Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré. The guests include fairy tale characters, Puss in Boots and the White Cat, the Bluebird and Princess Florine, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and precious jewels who pay their respects to the radiant couple.
Their joy is complete when the Lilac Fairy appears and gives her blessing to their happy union.
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