Sleeping Beauty… A Fairy’s Tale – Review of 2024 Theatre Orangeville Production

Sleeping Beauty … A Fairy’s Tale is a boisterous, irreverent and very funny parody of the famous fairy tale. Please note the apostrophe. Debbie Collins and David Nairn have written the farcical rendition of the beautiful princess who is put to sleep by a spell from a nasty fairy and is woken up after a long snooze by the kiss of a handsome prince. Well, sort of.
Sleeping Beauty is now playing at the small (273 fans capacity) and lovely theatre, the Orangeville Opera House in a production by Theatre Orangeville.
The play is introduced by the vivacious and rhyming couplets spouting Larry the Fairy (Ben Skipper). That is his job and not his sexual orientation. He and the other two good fairies, the lanky Sophia (Abdrew McGillivray) and the diminutive Meriweather (Christina Gordon) are the protectors and the adoptive parents of Princess Bella (Annika Tupper). All three of them? you ask. Please, this is a fairy tale and not 60 Minutes.
The three fairies sing, dance, fool around and provide delightful comedy. But there is also an evil fairy, properly named Maleficent, who has an axe to grind and is dedicated to doing nasty things. Dressed in black with horns that make her resemble Brünnhilde, she is intent on killing or making the lovely princess sleep for a long time. A juicy role that co-playwright Debbie Collins plays with gusto and relish helped by the energetic boos of the audience.
Maleficent has a junior sidekick in Diablo (Ben Skipper), a raven dressed in black and asked to provide comedy for all, even if it means overacting.
On the human side, we have a King (with William Lincoln doubling in the role) who speaks with a thick Scottish accent and a Queen (Annika Tupper doubling in the role) and both are richly attired is royal outfits and you would never guess that the actors playing them are the stars of the show.
But let us concentrate on the stars, the beautiful Princess and the handsome Prince (William Lincoln) who sing well and win our hearts as soon as they appear. They have to experience some tribulations, even setbacks but we know they will find happiness with their beautiful singing and despite their uneven dancing.
This is interactive theatre. Larry the Fairy instructs the audience on how to react to each fairy, positively and enthusiastically for the nice ones and boo loudly the bad Maleficent. There were few children when I saw the play but the mature audience cheered and booed with relish. They needed very little instruction or coaching. They just did it. Playing the audience proved a wonderful ploy for the authors and director David Nairn. The actors seem to enjoy it and the audience reveled in it.
The production has a complement of behind-the-scenes artists that would be the envy of many bigger professional companies. Set Designer Beckie Morris (she is also the Production Manager) designed the pretty view of a fairy tale including the royal castle represented on a panel that can be pushed on and off center stage as required, Costume Designer Wenndy Speck needs to outfit the four fairies, and the raven with colourful and comic attire. The Princess needs a beautiful dress and the Prince should look like he is worthy of her. He does and is.
Nicholas Mustaphaa, the Musical Director, played the piano and directed the songs from “Happy times are here again to” to “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from The Pirates of Penzance.
Most of the characters whooped it up, danced to the choreography of Candace Jennings fracturing the fairy tale and entertaining the audience. Chris Malkowski is the lighting designer for the numerous scenes from the castle to the forest and others.
Sleeping Beauty … A Fairy’s Tale manages to be faithful to the story (well, sort of), pokes fun at it, generates fun and humour and ends with a kiss. Sort of. I am no snitch to give precise details. I will give one snippet provided bu Sophia: Marriage is like a game of bridge: you need a good partner and if you don’t have one you need a good hand. It brought the house down.
Sleeping Beauty … A Fairy’s Tale by Debbie Collins and David Nairn produced by Theatre Orangeville will run until December 21, 2024 at the Orangeville Opera House, 87 Broadway, Orangeville, Ontario. www.theatreorangeville.ca/

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