Awaking Beauty: In Brief
Awaking Beauty
Play Number: 72World Premiere: 17 June 1974
Venue: Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Premiere Staging: In-the-round
Published: Samuel French
Other Media: No
Cast: 5m / 5f
Run Time: 2hr 15m
Synopsis: An 'adult' musical written with composer Denis King, Awaking Beauty asks what happens after 'happily ever after…' as Aurora awakens to a life in suburbia and the evil Carabosse discovers true love… or perhaps just true lust.
Note: A musical written with composer Denis King.
- Awaking Beauty is Alan Ayckbourn's 72nd play.
- The world premiere - directed by Alan Ayckbourn - was held at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 16 December 2008.
- Awaking Beauty was Alan Ayckbourn's final production at the Stephen Joseph Theatre as Artistic Director. When the play closed, to all intents and purposes Alan Ayckbourn stepped down as Artistic Director after 37 years in the role.
- It was written with the composer Denis King, who Alan Ayckbourn has also worked with on the musicals Whenever and Orvin - Champion Of Champions.
- Alan Ayckbourn's remit to his composer Denis King was that he wanted a musical without instruments with the majority of the music generated solely by voice.
- It is Alan Ayckbourn's eighth full length musical (or ninth if you count Jeeves and the revised version By Jeeves as separate musicals).
- It is the first - and to date, only - Ayckbourn play to carry an audience disclaimer that the play is not suitable for young children.
- It was the first Ayckbourn play to feature animatronic characters in the shape of three animatronic babies - created for the production by Lee Threadgold of Animated Objects.
- It is one of several plays of Alan Ayckbourn which can be broadly said to be part of the fantasy genre (as opposed to, for example, the science fiction or supernatural genres). Other plays include Dreams From A Summer House, The Champion Of Paribanou and Orvin - Champion of Champions.
- Although an original cast recording of the musical was recorded, it was not released commercially.