WHO ARE ALL THE GUESTS AT THE WEDDING?
From the original Petipa scenario
On stage as the curtain-rises:
The King and Queen, the newlyweds with the wedding party, and
the Fairies
a. Diamond
b. Gold
c. Silver
d. Sapphire
The carousel of Louis XIV: Turks,
Ethiopians, Africans, and Americans
1. Bluebeard and his wife
2. Puss in Boots
2a. The "Marquis de Carabas",
in a sedan chair, with his servants
(The Miller's Son, to whom Puss always refers by this title)
3. Goldilocks and Prince Avenant
(Not Perrault characters, a story about a hard-working suitor)
4. Donkey-skin and Prince Charming
(A little-known Perrault tale about a princess in disguise)
5. Beauty and the Beast
(Not Perrault characters, originally written by Straparola, then
retold by Mmes. de Villeneuve and de Beaumont)
6. Cinderella and Prince Fortuné
7. The Blue Bird and Princess Florine
(Guest Stars from the Fairy Tales of Mme. D'Aulnoy)
8. The White Cat, carried in on
a velvet pillow by four large servants
(Not a Perrault character, another d'Aulnoy tale)
9. Little Red Riding Hood and the
Wolf
10. Scruffy Ricky and Princess
Aimee
(Little-known Perrault characters - an ugly man and a beautiful
woman)
11. Hop O'My Thumb and his Brothers
(Not Tom Thumb, but boys who outwit an Ogre and take his 7-league
boots)
12. Mr. and Mrs. Ogre
13. Fairy Carabosse in her chariot
drawn by rats
14. Fairy Candide and her genies
15. Fairy Violente and her genies
16. The chariot of Fairy Canaries
and her suite
17. The Lilac Fairy drawn by four
large genies
These are the original wedding
guests from the 1890 production; later productions fiddle with
the guest list, giving Aurora a brother Florimund and two sisters
and having Ivanushka (Innocent Ivan) and his two brothers from
The
Little Hump-Backed Horse show up; sometimes all of Bluebeard's
wives are present. The Diaghilev 1921 production even had interpolations
from The Nutcracker. Lately, characters from television and motion
pictures have been creeping into the crowd..
BONUS SECTION: WHO AND HOW MANY
FAIRIES?
1. Candide (honesty)
2. Coulante (Wheat flour - beauty
- face powder)
3. Miettes (Breadcrumb - plenty
- a Russian tradition to sprinkle them on the
baby)
4. Canaries (lovely voice)
5. Violente (energy and authority)
6. Lilac (wisdom - a Russian tradition
is to place the baby under a lilac bush)
7. Carabosse (the elements - a
survival from ancient earth-worship)
8. Diamond
9. Gold
10. Silver
11. Sapphire