Sleeping Beauty.
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 animated adaptation of the classic fairy tale.
Cast[]
Singing cast[]
- Mary Costa - Princess Aurora/Briar Rose
- Bill Shirley - Prince Phillip
- Taylor Holmes - King Stefan
- Bill Thompson - King Hubert
Non-singing cast[]
- Eleanor Audley - Maleficent
- Verna Felton - Flora and Queen Leah
- Barbara Jo Allen - Fauna
- Barbara Luddy - Merryweather
- Bob Amsberry, Candy Candido, and Pinto Colvig - Goons
- Hans Conried - Lord Duke/Royal Herald
- Dallas McKennon - Diablo/Owl
- Marvin Miller - Narrator
Plot[]
After many childless years, King Stefan and Queen Leah, his wife, happily welcome the birth of their daughter, Princess Aurora. They proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess and celebrate her birth. At the gathering for her christening she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the young son of Stefan's friend, King Hubert, so that their kingdoms will always be united.
Soon, the royal herald, Lord Duke, announces the arrival of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the three good fairies. Flora and Fauna give the infant the gifts of beauty and song, respectively. Merryweather is able to give her blessing, but the evil witch, Maleficent appears, only to be told she was uninvited and unwanted by the whole kingdom. Maleficent turns to leave. But when Leah asks if she is offended, the witch curses the infant princess, proclaiming that Aurora will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. After the witch leaves, Merryweather uses her blessing to alter the curse so that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deathlike sleep from which she can only be awakened by true love's first kiss. Still fearful for his daughter's life, Stefan orders all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be burned. The fairies don't believe that will be enough to keep Aurora safe, and so they spirit baby Aurora away to a woodcutter's cottage in the forest until the day of her sixteenth birthday.
Years later, Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, has grown up into a beautiful teenage girl. On the day of her sixteenth birthday, the three fairies ask Rose to gather berries in the forest so they can prepare a surprise party for her. While singing in the forest, Rose attracts the attention of Prince Phillip, now a handsome young man. They instantly fall in love, unaware of being betrothed years ago. Rose asks Phillip to come to her cottage that evening.
While she is out, Merryweather and Flora argue about the color of Aurora's ball gown. They fight, changing the color of the gown with their wands, which inadvertently attracts the attention of Maleficent's raven, Diablo, and reveal the location of Aurora. When Aurora arrives, the fairies tell her the truth about her heritage, and she can't meet him again. Heartbroken, she leaves the room. Meanwhile, Phillip tells his father of a peasant girl he met and wishes to marry in spite of his prearranged marriage to Princess Aurora. King Hubert fails to convince his son otherwise, leaving him in equal disappointment.
The fairies take Aurora back to the castle. Maleficent then appears and magically lures Aurora away from the fairies and tricks the princess into touching an enchanted spinning wheel. While Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna try to look for Aurora, she pricks her finger, completing the curse. The fairies arrive too late to save Aurora and Maleficent taunts her rivals of their inability to defeat her. To their horror, she reveals them the sleeping Aurora before disappearing. Heartbrokened about their failure to save Aurora, the good fairies place her on a bed in the highest tower and place a powerful spell on all the people in the kingdom, causing them to fall in a deep sleep until the spell on their princess is broken. From Hubert's conversation with Stefan, the fairies realize that Prince Phillip is the man with whom Aurora has fallen in love. But when they arrive too late at the cottage, they realize that Phillip is ambushed and kidnapped by Maleficent and her minions. At the Forbidden Mountain, Maleficent shows Phillip the peasant girl he fell in love with is the now-sleeping princess. She tells him she plans to keep him locked away until he's an old man on the verge of death, then release him to meet his love, who won't have aged a single day.
Meanwhile, the fairies arrive at Maleficent's castle, where they avoid being spotted by Maleficent's guards. Luckily, they find and release the prince, arming him with the magical Sword of Truth and the magical Shield of Virtue. After Phillip and the fairies escape the castle, Maleficent tries to stop him with a forest of thorns, but fails as the prince cuts his way through. She then transforms herself into a gigantic dragon to battle the prince herself. The battle continues on a cliff, where Phillip loses his shield. Ultimately, he throws the sword, blessed by the fairies's magic, directly into Maleficent's heart, causing her to fall to her death.
Phillip awakens Aurora with a kiss, breaking the spell and wakes everyone else up in the kingdom. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is happily reunited with Stefan and Leah. Flora and Merryweather resume their argument over the color of Aurora's dress, even changing its color as Aurora wears it while dancing with Phillip. Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip live happily ever after.
Musical numbers[]
- "Hail to the Princess Aurora" - Chorus
- "One Gift" - Chorus
- "I Wonder" - Aurora
- "Once Upon a Dream" - Phillip and Aurora
- "Skumps" - Hubert and Stefan
- "Sleeping Beauty" - Chorus