Fortunately, one good and wise fairy had hidden from the witch so that she could try to undo the expected curse with a counter-spell. The good fairy used her magic to make it so that the princess would not actually die, but would just fall into a very deep sleep that would last until awoken by the power of love through the kiss of a prince.

The king sent out a proclamation to destroy all the spindles of all the spinning wheels in the kingdom. But on Princess Rose’s sixteenth birthday the girl stumbled upon a mysterious spinning wheel worked by an even more mysterious old crone. Having never seen a spindle before, Rose reached out and touched it, pricking her finger and immediately falling into a deep sleep. A spell was then placed over the entire kingdom that put everyone asleep until the princess awoke. And so the kingdom slept, waiting as the ages passed. One thousand years later legends still persisted regarding the strange castle overgrown with impassable briar bushes where, so they say, a young princess lies in an enchanted slumber, awaiting a kiss from the one man who can break the spell – the one man who can wake Sleeping Beauty.

The story of Sleeping Beauty has taken many forms over the ages, and La Jolla Playhouse is currently producing the most recent version in a world premiere written and directed by Tina Landau. This intriguing 21^st-century take on the story is told mostly from the point of view of Constance, the wicked witch herself, who narrates the tale to the audience. She is quick to point out through her narration that she is NOT a wicked witch as depicted in the Disney version. She is not a “witch” at all, but a fairy just like all the other good fairies who had granted Princess Rose so many gifts. And she claims that she did not level her curse out of anger, but out of the hurt she felt at being snubbed by the king for reasons that we can quickly deduce (although she doesn’t reveal the reason till near the end).

It’s been a thousand years now that Constance has looked over the sleeping Rose whom she communicates with in dreams, waiting eagerly for when the prince will come and relieve them both. And on the night we go to hear her story, in walks James (Jason Danieley), a relatively nerdy but amusing young college student who is lost on campus and accidentally stumbles onto the old crone telling her story. Could he be the unlikely hero who can get past the briars and end this long curse?

The highlight of the production is Lisa Harrow as the old crone – spinning her tale with charm, beauty, and a sense of mystery as she reveals the secrets that have lain dormant for centuries, and as she yearns for the end of the story. Like Gregory Maguire’s best-selling book Wicked which tells the story of The Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West (a story now transformed into a stage play on Broadway), here we get a glimpse into the person who gets such a bad rap in the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, and the unique perspective adds much to the before now very one-sided slant on the story.

Kelli O’Hara is the beautiful, young princess who has been living in a confusing and muddled dreamscape for all these years. But the years have not been in vain, as she has taken this time to grow and mature mentally in a way that she never would have otherwise (so was it really a curse, or a blessing in disguise???). Kelli offers an intelligent, modern, and not overly romanticized spin on the character, as well as lending her mesmerizing singing voice to the role. As the awkward “prince,” the unassuming Jason Danieley gets many of the best lines and delivers them with an engaging style. One of the best scenes features him struggling through the briar bushes and running into a couple of his hilarious predecessors (David Ari and Adam Smith) – princes who long ago didn’t quite make it through and are now impatiently waiting in a sort of limbo for someone to finally break the spell. UCSD MFA student Corey Brill turns in an effective performance as King Bertrand who slighted Constance to set all the events in motion, as does Amy Stewart as his wife Queen Marguerite who seems to suspect something between the two.

Performs through October 19, 2003.

Rob Hopper
National Arts Digest