New Victory Theater Presents "Sleeping Beauty" Feb 4-27

Caution: Not suitable for bedtime - London's Young Vic returns to New York's New Vic with a deliciously dark adaptation that goes beyond the kiss.

Awaken to a sinister and surreal fairytale world with the acclaimed Young Vic Theatre Company's reinterpretation of SLEEPING BEAUTY. From Friday, February 4th through Sunday, February 27th, this bewitchingly macabre production ventures past the legendary kiss into a perilous kingdom of shadows and an enchanted forest filled with trouble. Having enthralled New Victory audiences twice before with the gruesome Grimm Tales (1999) and the wondrous Arabian Nights (2000), the Young Vic returns with its signature style of bold, physical storytelling, stunning set design and cunning theatrics in a "terrific tale of the unexpected" (The Independent).

Inspired by Charles Perrault's original 17th century text, writer and director Rufus Norris returns SLEEPING BEAUTY to its decidedly unsaccharine roots by crafting a play that takes a provocative look at a very complicated "Ever After." Deep in the heart of a dark wood, an unusual cluster of characters assemble: a pair of crooked crowns - a kindly King who makes misguided promises along with his ungrateful Queen; a remorseful fairy trying to correct her rash, sleep-inducing spindle curse; a mother-in- law who happens to be a baby-eating Ogress with a taste for her progeny; a strong but cowardly prince with a less than regal lineage; and finally, a rebellious young woman named Beauty - who must rely on her wits rather than her prince to escape the dangers that pursue her after a century-long slumber.

The Young Vic's versatile ensemble plays everything from fawning courtiers and grumbling servants to underworld sprites and inanimate objects (i.e. banquet tables and thorny briars). Performing Richard Chew's score a capella, they set a devilishly fun tone to the action-packed saga with mock Gregorian chants and bumbling minstrel ditties. Designer Katrina Lindsay adds to the off-kilter production by staging SLEEPING BEAUTY on a vast wooden drum studded with percussive trap doors and sheltered above by a magically suspended castle. Conjuring up a world of wizardry and grisly thrills, SLEEPING BEAUTY is a coup de theatre, rich with vivid inventiveness and charged simplicity.

The dream child of Sir Laurence Olivier and Frank Dunlop, the Young Vic Theatre Company was created in 1970 as the first major theater dedicated to producing works for audiences of all ages. The Company has garnered international acclaim since its inception for producing a vast array of work ranging from classics to experimental theater to new plays, including the world premieres of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee. Under the artistic direction of David Lan, the Young Vic has performed countless productions including Peter Brook's Le Costume and Hamlet (with Adrian Lester), Richard Jones's Six Characters Looking for an Author and Hobson's Choice (the latter adapted by Tanika Gupta), Rufus Norris' Afore Night Come, Sleeping Beauty (2002) and Peribanez (2003) and Josette Bushell-Mingo's production of Langston Hughes' Simply Heavenly (2003).

The performance schedule for SLEEPING BEAUTY at The New Victory Theater is:

Friday, February 4 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 5 & Sunday, February 6 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Friday, February 11 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 12 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 13 1:00 pm (JVT) & 7:00 pm
Friday, February 18 7:00 pm*
Saturday, February 19 & Sunday, February 20 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Monday, February 21 1:00 pm*
Wednesday, February 23 1:00 pm
Thursday, February 24 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm**
Friday, February 25 7:00 pm
Saturday, February 26 1:00 pm* & 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 27 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm
* Talk Back with performers ** Sign-Interpreted Performance

Tickets for SLEEPING BEAUTY are $10, $20 and $30 and can be ordered by visiting Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Tickets are also on sale at the New Victory box office (209 West 42nd Street, just west of Broadway), Sunday and Monday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm, Tuesday - Saturday, 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm.

JVT (Junior VicTeens)
Offering exclusive events for the "tween set" (ages 11+), JVT (Junior VicTeens) is part of VicTeens - a teens-only (ages 13-18) program that provides pre- and post-show events in addition to workshops and other fun activities. Sleeping Beauty is the second of three JVT: Behind The Curtain events and takes place on Sunday, February 13 at 1 pm. For only $10, JVT participants get to watch the show from a JVT-only section and meet the cast after the show. Plan B and Typo are the other two shows participating in the 2004-05 season's JVT: Behind The Curtain. JVT tickets can be purchased by calling 646-223-3065 or visiting www.newvictory.org.

ABOUT NEW YORK'S PREMIER THEATER FOR KIDS AND FAMILIES
The New Victory Theater, a New 42nd Street® project, is New York City's premier theater for kids and families. Built by Oscar Hammerstein in 1900 and opened as the Theatre Republic, it established 42nd Street as the heart of New York's theater district. Ninety-five years later, The New Victory was the FIRST historic theater to be renovated on the block, and its opening, on December 11, 1995, sparked the renaissance of 42nd Street. Today it is one of the City's most respected cultural institutions and has "pioneered a new, sophisticated vision of family entertainment" (Time Out New York) with cutting-edge productions like Shockheaded Peter, Grimm Tales and The Junebug Symphony; dynamic dance companies like the Seán Curran Company and Rennie Harris Puremovement; puppetry masterpieces like Kwaidan and Peter and Wendy; new vaudeville/circus spectacles like AntiGravity's Crash Test Dummies and Circus Oz; and Tony-nominated, Broadway-transfers like A Year With Frog and Toad and It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues.

Founded in 1990, The New 42nd Street Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization charged with long-term responsibility for seven historic theaters on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. In addition to running The New Victory Theater, The New 42nd Street Inc. built and operates the New 42nd Street ® Studios - a ten-story building of rehearsal studios, offices and a 199-seat, workshop/experimental theater named The Duke on 42nd Streetsm - for national and international performing arts companies. With these institutions and the other properties under its guardianship, The New 42nd Street Inc. plays a pivotal role in fostering the continued revival of the Crossroads of the World.

The presentation of Sleeping Beauty is supported by grants from Altria Group, Inc., Axe-Houghton Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and The Laura Pels Foundation.