A lot of money has been lavished on this new production, but £700,000 is still no guarantee of a trouble-free premiere. On Saturday, noisy gremlins interfered with the stage machinery and Darcey Bussell, heroically fighting a foot injury, had to let her Lilac Fairy dance the last steps of the final pas de deux.
But cash has bought a startlingly different looking Beauty from the 1994 version the company dumped last year. In place of the crowded, cerebral designs of Maria Bjornson, Luisa Spinatelli's gauzy light fills the sets, and delicately sumptuous costumes waft the ballet with exquisite sympathy. Aside from a couple of Disneyish lapses (such as the fire spewing dragon on Carabosse's chariot) these luminous designs take tasteful and pretty to a higher dimension. Even more importantly they provide a spacious showcase for the choreographic vision of producer Natalia Makarova.
Though Makarova hasn't attempted to restore Beauty to its 1890 authenticity, she has aimed at capturing the elusive essence of its classical style - a peculiar mix of formal stage manners, delicately baroque body lines and concealed power embodied in Petipa's language. So determined has she been that during parts of the evening it is hard to believe we are watching the Royal.
The company's instinct for dramatic naturalism has been subdued to courtly reticence and strictly choreographed mime. The strong, plain curves, which are second nature to most of the company, have been fractured into a bird boned, decorative elegance. Marianela Nunez as the Lilac Fairy and Jaimie Tapper as the Fairy of Purity both look transformed. Valery Ovsyanikov's conducting gives musical life to the company's new look.
All of this sounds uncontroversial, but there are several points in Makarova's editing of the choreography with which many will quarrel. She has diminished the architectural splendour of the Fairies' choreography in the Prologue, and the Vision scene lacks mystery. Her decision to have a small perky Cupid direct Prince Desire towards Aurora reduces their love to a valentine card. And despite Zenaida Yanowsky's fabulously malign Cabarosse, this production emasculates the story's essential battle between good and evil.
But the production's integrity of purpose survive the weaknesses. Even though the dancers looked fairly jittery on Saturday (Beauty is the company's sacred text, and this was a high profile premiere) there are sea changes in many of their performances that promise well for the future. Makarova makes her dancers think about what they are doing, and her audiences think about what they are seeing. That's value for money.
· In rep until April 21. Box office: 020-7304 4000
