Does life imitate art, or does art imitate life? For composer Brendan Milburn and lyricist Valerie Vigoda, their real lives have been intertwined into Sleeping Beauty Wakes, now performing at the La Jolla Playhouse. No, neither Milburn nor Vigoda are mystical fairies that lived once upon a time; however, key plot points in their modern adaptation of Sleeping Beauty do share some similarities with their own lives.
“It has really paralleled our personal experiences in many ways,” said Vigoda, who is also married to Milburn.
In this updated story, Prince Charming never broke the evil fairy’s curse and a young beauty is brought to a sleep disorder clinic after being asleep for about 900 years. Soon all the patients find themselves sharing a familiar dream – Beauty’s dream – as her father continues to watch over her.
“One of the biggest themes running through the show is one of parenthood. In the original Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, it starts before Sleeping Beauty was ever born, when the king and queen had everything they could ever want – except one thing, which was a child,” said Vigoda. “We started getting into this piece just as we were trying to start a family ourselves. One of the first songs we wrote for the show was along those lines – really wishing for a child and wanting to have one.”
As the show evolved, and as Vigoda and Milburn added a son to their family, the similarities also grew.
“As we got farther into the story, the idea of the curse and the spindle and feeling your normal parental instincts need to be more exaggerated when you know there is something deadly out there that you know may harm your child – which is the case with Beauty and her family – at that point, we also found out our son has a very deadly peanut allergy. To us, that became our spindle,” Vigoda said.
“There are spindles lurking everywhere,” Milburn added.” You don’t need to be cursed by some vindictive evil fairy in order to have a spindle that can prick you and make you fall asleep forever.”
Despite the similarities between life and art, the musical duo does not take full credit for Sleeping Beauty Wakes. That credit is shared with Brothers Grim, authors of the original tale, and Rachel Sheinkin, the writer of this modern adaptation. This is the second show the three have collaborated on. Their first – Striking 12, an update of The Little Match Girl fairy tale – was performed in San Diego in 2003.
“She has a fertile, wonderful and strange mind. We love it,” Milburn said. “We love that we get to work with her and take her peculiar ideas and help bring them into reality.”
“One of the most wonderful things I think about Rachael and her particular sensibility,” Vigoda added, “is she has such a combination of finding truth and great heart and poignancy when it makes sense, and just at the moment where …”
“Where you might veer into sentimentality,” Milburn interjected.
“She has a gentle, hilarious, funny moment to deflate everything,” Vigoda continued. “That balance is something she is really an expert at. Together, it’s been a wonderful experience to weave in our music with that sensibility.”
Their final work of art is something that everyone can associate with. After all, everyone sleeps.
“I have not met anyone that hasn’t been able to relate to our patients when they come into the clinic,” Vigoda explained. “They are having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or getting enough rest in their lives. We all have these problems, but we don’t really talk about them in our daily lives. We just all drink a lot of coffee and deal silently. It’s kind of nice to be able to bring this issue to the forefront in a fun and kind of quirky way.”
Sleeping Beauty Wakes has awoken San Diego audiences, too. The initial response has been so impressive the first weekend that La Jolla Playhouse has already extended the show.
“The audience’s enthusiasm for Sleeping Beauty Wakes has been tremendous,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.
To wake the art in your own life, check into the Playhouse’s sleeping disorder clinic and live the dream with Sleeping Beauty Wakes. Log on to lajollaplayhouse.com or call the box office at 858-550-1010. La Jolla Playhouse is located on the UCSD campus.
