Sleeping Beauty has a special place in the history of Sadler's Wells - it was where the first British production of the ballet was danced in 1939; it was where Margot Fonteyn made her debut as Aurora. But history of a different kind is being made with the Well's first presentation of Sleeping Beauty on Ice.
If ghosts from 1939 are still in the building, then elements of this Russian skating ballet might freeze their hearts. Tchaikovsky's majestic score has been carved into wilting chunks and Aurora, as danced by Olympic medallist Mandy Woetzel, is more tough competitor than radiant princess - her smile snapped efficiently into place after each stunt, her body stiff as a board.
But even the most classically minded ghost would be unable to resist the romping energy of this skating production, and be fascinated by its attempts to honour the original ballet. Choreographer Tatiana Tarasova not only quotes from Petipa but push those quotes into effects of which ordinary dancers can only dream. Fairies whirl for dizzying seconds above the heads of their spinning cavaliers, Aurora lies full length on her Prince's back as he glides in arabesque around the stage.
The best bits though are the most deviant. No Sleeping Beauty has ever opened more thrillingly than our first sight of Carabosse, a sexy vampire in black lace, who bares her teeth at us from a swinging trapeze framed by gouts of flame and dry ice. Nor has there been a more awesome Catalabutte - transformed from elderly courtier to virtuoso jester as he flashes around the stage in dazzle of jumps, pirouettes and backflips. There's even a butterfly who skates on stilts.
The down side of these tricks is that few of the cast can act and sometimes the staging is ludicrous - terrified servants bring news of Carabosse's arrival by turning cartwheels, the overdressed King and Queen teeter across the ice like a couple of dipsomaniacs. But when our jaw drops it's rarely from a sense of outrage - its because what's happening on stage is so amazing and so much fun.
· Until Sunday. Box office: 0870 737 7737. Then touring.
