You almost need to wear your sunglasses for this glittering revival of Peter Wright's production for Birmingham Royal Ballet. Nearly 20 years on, it is still breathtaking. Philip Prowse's lavish sets and costumes capture all the baroque opulence of the court of Louis XIV, with obelisks, urns and golden panels Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would be proud of.
This is an epic staging in the imperial Russian tradition. The company is in golden mode. Director David Bintley has honed the dancers, especially the men. With its physical pyrotechnics and bravura choreography, this revival was a ballet-lovers' dream.
Company ballet mistress Marion Tait was Wright's first Aurora in 1984 and she still commands the stage, this time as the wicked fairy Carabosse. Lithuanian soloist Asta Bazeviciute, as Aurora, opened the revival premiere with the dashing Australian Andrew Murphy as her Florimund. Cool yet spirited, Bazeviciute's Aurora came over as the kind of teenage princess who would prefer to swot for her exams than party. Her expansive, light style melds technical precision and deliberation with wonderfully fluid, expressive legs and arms.
A mix of control and attack in the showcase Rose Adagio, she gave us some thrilling moments in the grand pas de deux, well partnered by Murphy. He was a vigorous, hunky prince, but seemed to lose his impulse in the final solo.
However, plenty of elan and elevation came from Chi Cao as the bluebird, feet fluttering in the brises voles and nimbly partnering Nao Sakuma as the equally mercurial enchanted princess. Wright pared down the parade of fairy-tale characters in act three, but we had an engaging Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf from Veronique Tamaccio and Pierpaolo Ghirotto, and a dazzling pas de quatre from Ambra Vallo and Rachel Peppin, Michael Kopinski and Michael Revie.
The final wedding tableau, a homage to the Sun King with Tchaikovsky's fortissimo climax, was so wonderfully regal it had more bling-bling than the Beckhams.
· Until Saturday. Box office: 0870 787 5780. Then touring.
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