“At 54, Kirkland needs mime skills for her ballet comeback, but her role as the wicked fairy Carabosse in this unorthodox ‘Sleeping Beauty’ also involves being the centerpiece of complex lifts and, for a time, even some aerial maneuvers — though those have been deleted from the production since the New York run. No, she’s never done wire work before, or been a choreographer, for that matter, but she’s also never been afraid of a new challenge — and playing someone she calls “a woman who is beautiful on the outside but evil on the inside” is definitely that.”