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The Royal New Zealand Ballet will open its Christchurch season of The Sleeping Beauty to a nearly sold-out audience at the Isaac Theatre Royal, with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra playing live from the pit.
Tonight’s performance starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are still available for later shows, including three evening performances and a Saturday matinee.
Conductor Hamish McKeich will lead the orchestra through Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s score.
Christchurch is one of three stops on the national tour with a live orchestra.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra accompanied the Wellington performances, and Auckland Philharmonia will play for the Auckland season. Audiences in the other touring centres will hear a recording by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet presents The Sleeping Beauty, 29 October to 20 December 2026. Photo credit: Stephen A’Court.
The ballet follows Princess Aurora, who falls into an enchanted sleep after a curse leads her to prick her finger. Only true love can wake her. Choreographer Greg Horsman’s version keeps the classical style of the ballet while finding room for humour in the fairytale.
Horsman created the production for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, which says more than 42,000 people saw it on its first national tour in 2011. He joined Queensland Ballet the following year, and the Australian company has since staged the production several times.
Royal New Zealand Ballet artistic director Ty King-Wall said the revival gives a new generation of dancers the chance to take on the principal roles.
“Created for our company, Greg Horsman’s production is an evocative and respectful staging of one of the great ballets of the 19th century,” he said.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet presents The Sleeping Beauty, 29 October to 20 December 2026. Photo credit: Stephen A’Court.
Former company artistic director Gary Harris designed the sets and costumes, taking the story from the royal court to an enchanted forest. Wellington’s Wētā Workshop created some of the stage elements, and Jon Buswell designed the lighting.
The ballet runs for about two and a half hours, including a 20-minute interval. The Christchurch season continues through Saturday 14 November, with performances at 7.30pm each evening. The Isaac Theatre Royal also lists a question and answer session with Saturday’s 1.30pm matinee.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet presents The Sleeping Beauty, 29 October to 20 December 2026. Photo credit: Stephen A’Court.
The Sleeping Beauty closes the company’s 2026 season. After Christchurch, the tour continues to Invercargill, Dunedin, Hamilton, Auckland and Palmerston North.
