Sleeping Beauty

Scene 1:

Setting: Aurora’s cold, dark bedroom; October 25th, 1808 Paris, France. Approximately 6am, just before dawn.

Aurora, (Sleeping Beauty) awakes from a 20 year curse of sleep. Expecting to be greeted by a prince’s kiss, instead, Aurora wakes abruptly to a cold dark room and she is all alone. Along with 20 years of uninterrupted sleep, Aurora had been cursed to believe that the dream she was in had been real. In her dream, Aurora believed to be in love with and married to Prince Phillipe. However, the reality is that Aurora is alone and has spent the last 20 years asleep while Prince Phillipe has lead a completely separate life.

Après un rêve                                                               After a dream

Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image                      In a sleep charmed by your image
Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage;                               I dreamed of happiness, ardent mirage;
Tes yeux étaient plys doux, ta voix pure et sonore,         Your eyes were soft, your voice pure and rich,
Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l’aurore.            You were radiant as a sky lit by the dawn.

Tu m’appelais et je guittais la terre                                 You called me, and I left the earth
Pour m’enfuir avec toi vers la lumière;                            To flee with you towards the light.
Les cieux pour nous, entr’ouvraient leurs nues,               The heavens parted their clouds for us
Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entreveus…          Unknown splendors, glimpses of divine light…

Hélas, hélas, triste réveil des songes!                              Alas, alas, sad awakening from dreams!
Je t’apelle, ô nuit, rends-moi tes mensonges;                   I call to you, o night, give me back your illusions;
Reviens, reviens radieuse,                                              Return, return in radiance,
Reviens, ô nuit mystérieuse!                                           Return, o mysterious night!

Scene 2A:

Setting: Aurora’s cousin Emelie’s Garden. October 25th, 1808 Paris, France. Around 8pm just after the sun has set

A masquerade party at Emelie’s garden is being held in honor of Aurora’s waking! Since Aurora has been asleep for 20 years, everyone is a stranger to her. Aurora sits by the fountain in the moonlight observing the scene around her. She talks to the moonlight as if it were her only friend.

Clair de lune                                                                  Moonlight

Votre âme est un paysage choisi                                              Your soul is a rare landscape
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques               Charmed by masks and bergamasks
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi                                  Playing the lute and dancing, and almost
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.                    Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur                             While singing in the minor key
L’amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,                           Of victorious love and the good life,
Ils n’ont pas l’air de croire à leur boneur                         They do not seem to believe in their happiness,
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune.                         And their song blends with the moonlight.

Au calm eclair de lune triste et beau,                              With the calm moonlight, sad and beautiful,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres                               That makes the birds dream in the trees,
Et sangloter d’extase les jets d’eau,                                 And the fountains sob with rapture,
Les grands jets d’eau sveltes parmi les marbres.              The tall slender fountains among the marble statues.

Scene 2B:

Setting: Aurora’s cousin Emelie’s Garden. October 25th, 1808 Paris, France. Around 9pm

Overwhelmed with being surrounded by party goers, Aurora decides to leave the center of the party and find a room that is quiet and empty. As Aurora catches her reflection in the mirror, she is confronted with a grim reality. She has spent the past 20 years asleep, and she will never get that time back.

Automne                                                                       Autumn

Automne au ciel brumeux, aux horizons navrants,           Autumn of misty skies and heartbreaking horizons,
Aux rapides couchants, aux aurores pâlies,                      Of fleeting sunsets, of pale dawns
Je regarde couler, comme l’eau du torrent,                     I watch flowing by, like the waters of a torrent,
Tes jours faits de mélancolie.                                          Your days tinged with melancholy.

Sur l’aile des regrets mes esprits emportés                       My thoughts, carried away on the wings of regret,
Comme s’il se pouvait que notre âge renaisse!                --As though it were possible for our age to be reborn!
Parcourent en rêvant les coteaux enchantés,                  Travel in dreams over the enchanted hillsides,
Où jadis, sourit ma jeunesse!                                          Where once my youth had smiled!

 Je sens au clair soleil du souvenir vainqueur,                   In the bright sunlight of victorious memory
Refleurir en boquets les roses déliées,                            I smell the fallen roses blooming again in bouquets
Et monter à mes yeux des larmes,                                   That in my heart
Mes vingt ans avaient oubliées!                                      At twenty had been forgotten!