'The Sleeping Beauty' will be awakened by a kiss in Monterey with an international cast of performers.

The earliest version of a story about a princess cursed at birth and put to sleep for 100 years can be traced back to the 14th century. Put on paper by Charles Perrault and Brothers Grimm, it had been part of European oral tradition for centuries.

The tale of Aurora and her 100 years’ slumber – followed by a happy marriage with a brave prince who rescues her – makes for the second of the three famous ballets by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, written in 1889, after Swan Lake (1876) and before The Nutcracker (1892).

Not a single word is included in the performance. Fifty separate musical numbers are strung together. Dance and gestures, as well as exquisite stage design, convey the narrative.

The scenario was written by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and the choreographer was Marius Petipa, the ballet master of the Imperial Ballet, a Frenchman who spent most of his life in St. Petersburg.

The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in January 1890 during famous white nights, when the sun in St. Petersburg never sets and the residents party all night long, crowding Nevsky Prospect. It was a perfect setting, especially that experts consider The Sleeping Beauty a story that symbolizes winter, when the Earth stops its activities, curls up to sleep for months like a polar bear.

Another interpretation is that the story praises patience when it comes to marriage, advising young women to wait as long as needed for the right groom to come. But even if we decide that waiting for a prince charming for 100 years is not practical advice, The Sleeping Beauty comes with a lesson one should never ignore: Always update your guest list before a party, so that no guest – whether a good fairy or an evil fairy – gets overlooked and offended.

The show that is coming to Monterey was put together by International Ballet Stars. This production features lavish sets, hand-painted scenery, exquisite costumes and a cast of dancers from Italy, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Ukraine, Japan, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

In the main roles are guest artists from the Dutch National Ballet – Vietnamese ballerina Ha Nhi Tran as Aurora and Spanish dancer Guillermo Torrijos as prince Florimund.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 6pm Wednesday, Dec. 3. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $38-$98. (831) 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com.