Carolina Ballet presents Sleeping Beauty

Carolina Ballet brings Sleeping Beauty to the Memorial Auditorium at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh, with performances running from May 13 through May 16, 2027. It's a brand-new staging that closes out the company's season, and it's a big one: the full story of Princess Aurora, guided by the Lilac Fairy and haunted by Carabosse's curse, told across four days of shows.

This isn't a production they've been sitting on. It's a new mounting, choreographed by Zalman Raffael after the original work of Marius Petipa, the man who first set the ballet in the late 19th century. Raffael is drawing from those original steps, so the dancing stays true to the version that made the story a staple of the repertoire. The visual side is new, too—brand-new costumes and amended sets, so it's not just a revival of an old production, but a fresh look at the whole thing.

And the music is live. Tchaikovsky's score is carried by a live symphony orchestra, which is a big part of the experience—hearing the orchestra in the room rather than a recording. That's the same music that's tied to the story, from the early scenes through the curse and the eventual awakening.

It runs May 13, 14, 15, and 16, so you've got a few nights to choose from. The venue is the Memorial Auditorium at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., right in downtown Raleigh.