Quadrophenia - A Mod Ballet - Revew

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Written by Pete Townshend

Choreographed by Paul Roberts

Directed by Rob Ashford

Paris Fitzpatrick

Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia is a glorious fusion of classical modern music, outstanding dance and world class stagecraft that creates an evening of outstandingly provocative entertainment. Playing at Sadler’s Wells, the classic 1973 album that became a movie in 1979, is now translated into ballet under Rob Ashford’s direction and Paul Robert’s choreography.

To be fair, both men have had their visionary work enhanced by the musical foundations laid down by Rachel Fuller’s orchestration that had taken The Who’s legendary album, stripped out the lyrics and let the music sing its own narrative. As a mark of the evening’s pedigree, the backing soundtrack has been recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Quadrophenia speaks of  Britain’s culture in the 1960s played through the eyes of Jimmy, a teenage Londoner and his post-adolescent journey through desires, frustrations, music and gang culture. This was the Mods v Rockers era, with Townshend’s narrative picking out with pinpoint precision Jimmy’s mental anguish. And as a part of the meticulously created backdrop to this dance, as the Mods battled the Rockers beneath Brighton Pier, there’s more than a hint of West Side Story’s Jets vs Sharks in the conflict.

On the night of this review Jimmy was danced, spectacularly, by Paris Fitzpatrick. Notable characters (though the entire company are outstanding) that impact Jimmy are The Mod Girl (Taela Yeomans-Brown) and The Ace Face (Dan Baines). Townshend’s story also picks out the impact of the horrors of the Second World War on Jimmy’s father, where Stuart Neal delivers a haunting routine.

The stage set may be beautifully simple, but the projections designed by Yeastculture.org are state of the art. Bending our sense of perception and reality, the multi-dimensional imagery elevates the music and dance to a level rarely seen on a London stage. And don’t forget that this ballet’s costumes are designed by the legendary Paul Smith and yes, there is even a Lambretta on stage too!

Quadrophenia as a ballet takes a glimpse of England's history, portraying it with authenticity and unbelievable imagination, with flawless components from both its cast and creative team. Only on for a short while, it is unmissable!

(And dare I ask - any chance of Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller transforming Tommy into a ballet???)

Runs until 13th July then on tour

Photo credit: Johan Persson

The Midnight Bell - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

***

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

The company of The Midnight Bell

Inspired by the novels of Patrick Hamilton, The Midnight Bell plunges us into the murky, world of 1930s Soho. And there, thanks to Paule Constable’s gloomy lighting, it remains for one hour and fifty minutes (apart from a twenty minute interval). While Lez Brotherston's set design is atmospheric, the action is not always visible. That the follow-spots sometimes fail to light their intended subject doesn’t help matters. 

The titular Midnight Bell is a pub where various people – lonely, listless, cocky or whatever – meet. Most are looking for love or sex in some form or other, with some of the encounters working out better than others.  

Of course the choreography is sensitive, imaginative and very watchable. Some of the gestures are witty too and it’s all very human. This is Matthew Bourne, after all, and he’s a master of his own form of body language.  But the story telling is too vague and given the shadowy lighting it’s often hard to distinguish one character from another although each is, apparently, drawn specifically from the novels. 

Terry Davies’s evocative music, pre-recorded by an eleven piece orchestra with a singer, fits the mood of the piece perfectly. He deploys an effective use of voice, sailing over the top of the musical texture, to create mystery, sadness or wistfulness. Like Bourne, Davies is very good at evoking mood with, for example, a minimalist percussion rhythm accompanying a sex scene in a seedy hotel that is aurally arresting. Less successful is the use of characters miming 1930s songs which simply feels lazy. Dance in general, and ballet in particular, is a non-verbal medium and the songs are a jarring interruption. 

This revival of The Midnight Bell, first seen in 2023, is reasonably enjoyable theatre, athough the second half drags. Not Matthew Bourne’s finest.

Runs until 21st June, then on tour.

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Reviewed by Nicola Klein

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake - The Next Generation - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

The Company

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, now badged “The Next Generation”, plays at Sadler’s Wells over the festive season. This remarkable ballet that has literally introduced and inspired generations of young people into the world of dance remains a radical re-imagination of the classic gothic fantasy.

Bourne’s interpretation veers away from magic and enchantment. His is a modern world of challenged mental health, of society’s demanding expectations, and of a young Prince grappling to define his sexuality – all danced to Tchaikovsky’s music.

On the night of this review The Prince was magnificently danced by Stephen Murray. The show’s principal dancer however is given a gruelling two-role responsibility with this review seeing Harrison Dowzell take the parts of both The Swan and The Stranger. Dowzell is sensational throughout. His Swan, a creation of The Prince’s troubled mind, moves with an avian power and grace that is compelling. Matthew Bourne’s interpretation is very dark, with a tragic climax to the show that reflects Dowzell’s hypnotic influence over the damaged young Prince.

The complementing role that falls to Dowzell is as the charismatic Stranger who appears at the palace ball. Teeming with testosterone, Dowzell asserts himself as the alpha human male, truly the balls of the ball, sweeping all the Princesses - and then the Prince – off their feet. Dowzell’s contribution to an evening of scorching dance-fuelled drama is simply breathtaking.

Of course, it is not just The Swan that stuns. As Bourne’s corps of Swans, all bare-chested and clad in Lez Brotherston’s now famous swan-leg costumes fill the stage, the beauty of the director's vision is ingenious. Their perfect poise and movement only heightening the painful poignancy of the Prince’s mental decline. Rarely have a flock of birds looked so ripped!

Ashley Shaw danced The Queen for this performance as Katrina Lyndon played The Girlfriend. Shaw has long impressed on these pages in her work for Bourne – here, supported by subtle hair and makeup enhancements, she convincingly plays a role way beyond her years as the matriarch emotionally disconnected from her damaged son. Shaw shows sheer talent in a critically important supporting role. Lyndon (also the show’s dance captain) makes the most of a slighter role, mixing moments of comedy with perfectly weighted vacuity as she delivers the complex part of the young woman whom The Prince, at first, so passionately desires.

Brotherston’s set design is, as always, a treat, while in the pit, Benjamin Pope conducts the New Adventures Orchestra through a fabulous delivery of Tchaikovsky’s work. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake remains a chillingly exhilarating evening of dance.

Runs until 26th January 2025 then on tour

Photo credit: Johan Persson

A Chorus Line - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Music by Marvin Hamlisch

Lyrics by Edward Kleban

Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante

Directed by Nikolai Foster

The cast of A Chorus Line

Nikolai Foster created a magnificent revival of A Chorus Line at Leicester’s Curve Theatre in 2021. Even then, the brilliance of this production cried out for a wider audience, and so it is that London now has a month to enjoy this show with its residency at Sadler’s Wells before it tours across the country.

It has been 11 years since the A Chorus Line last played in the capital, a long wait to witness such a class act of a show and Foster’s interpretation has only improved with time. At just under two hours, this one-act record-breaker upends the traditions of musical theatre. There are no leading characters whose arcs we follow, rather an ingenious confection of the lives and histories of a fictional Broadway chorus line (with narratives drawn from real-life), all desperate to be chosen from the final-round audition that forms the backbone of the show. 

Adam Cooper and Carly Mercedes Dyer reprise their roles of the fictional show’s director Zach and Cassie an auditionee with more of a back-story than meets the eye. Both are sublimely skilled performers making captivating work not only of James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante’s fiendishly challenging book, but also of Ellen Kane’s choreography, with Dyer’s take on The Music And The Mirror proving breath-taking in her interpretation. Both Curve and Sadler’s Wells offer massive stages and Kane’s work, matched to a band that is intriguingly housed in an on-stage cube of gig boxes, uses that space to the full.

Most of the cast in this Curve revival may be new to the show but Foster has selected his actors wisely and they are all, to a person, performers at the very top of their game. The humanity that underlies each of their characters is sometimes funny but often heartbreaking and to name but a few of these gems, Amy Thornton, Lydia Bannister and Kate Parr as Sheila, Bebe and Maggie respectively make gorgeously poignant work of At The Ballet and Manuel Pacific has us in the palm of his hand as he delivers Paul’s devastating monologue of family dysfunctionality. Jocasta Almgill is entrusted with the role of Diana that includes the show’s hit-song, What I Did For Love. Almgill may have sung the lyric “look my eyes are dry”, but across the stalls on press night, quite a few eyes were moist at her delivery.

Throughout, under Matthew Spalding’s musical direction, Hamlisch’s score is handled beautifully. Grace Smart’s set design is neatly simple as the show demands. Howard Hudson’s lighting however is sensational, comprising ingenious use of rows of spotlights that rise and fall in carefully co-ordinated sequences, evoking scenes that range from intimacy to full on Broadway pizzazz. The tour’s lighting crew will have their work cut out on the road, re-calibrating this spectacular rig for each different venue.

It says much for the strength of the nation’s regional theatre that three of the finest musicals to be playing this summer, Oliver!, Barnum and A Chorus Line have all originated outside of London. With this interpretation however, Nikolai Foster has possibly created the definitive British production of this enigmatic show. Just go!

Runs until August 25th. Then on tour.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Romeo + Juliet - Review

Sadler's Wells Theatre, London

*****

Music by Prokofiev

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Cordelia Braithwaite and Paris Fitzpatrick

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet returns to Sadler’s Wells, reminding London of this brilliant, bloody interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tale.

Set in the dystopian Verona Institute in the ‘not too distant future’, this is a Romeo + Juliet that sees the Bard’s narrative fused to Prokofiev’s classic score and staged with more than a nod to Lindsay Anderson’s If... Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and maybe just a hint of Alan Clarke's Scum for good measure.

Bourne’s action never leaves the white tiles of the institution, harshly lit and policed by armed guards. This is a bold and distinctive Romeo + Juliet that where necessary plays fast and loose with the familiar plotlines to enable the narrative to reach its tragic climax while still maintaining the rudiments of the story.

Where everyone bar the guards and Romeo’s patrician parents are clad in white, it’s a challenge for the humble punters to discern the Montagues from the Capulets - but that is but a minor quibble. The flawless standard of Bourne’s New Adventures company’s dance is breathtaking. Their movement so apparently effortless and immaculately drilled, is sensational.

In the pit Brett Morris conducts a scaled down orchestra of 15 players. But as those famous opening bars of Act One play out so magnificently and chillingly, one quickly realises that not only is Prokofiev’s composition in very safe hands, but also how appropriate Bourne’s vision is for the music.

Paris Fitzpatrick and Cordelia Braithwaite dance the leading roles bringing athleticism, passion and a profound vulnerability to their characters. There’s a wickedly fine turn from Danny Reubens’ Tybalt too.

Yet again Lez Brotherston partners with Bourne to deliver a stunningly evocative stage set, complete with a domed ceiling to the Verona Institute that rises and falls like ET's mother ship.

The production values are immaculate throughout, with New Adventures proving a fine example of Arts Council England’s money that is being well spent. And while Matthew Bourne may have teasingly juggled with one of the oldest love stories in the canon, his blood-soaked finale concludes a truly ripping yarn.

Runs until 2nd September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

42nd Street - Review

Sadler's Wells Theatre, London

*****

Music by Harry Warren

Lyrics by Al Dubin

Book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble

Directed by Jonathan Church

Nicole-Lily Baisden and the company of 42nd Street

Arriving at Sadler’s Wells for a month’s residency, Jonathan Church’s touring production of 42nd Street is an immaculately delivered five-star delight.

The fabled story of chorus girl Peggy Sawyer who gets her lucky break in a Broadway show when leading lady Dorothy Brock sustains an equally unlucky break to her ankle, is as old as the hills and as corny too. For such a yarn to suspend the disbelief of a hackneyed modern audience demands perfection from its performers - and Church, with choreographer Bill Deamer does just that, coaxing magical voice and footwork from across his company.

Nicole-Lily Baisden is Peggy. Outstanding in the recent Barbican-based Anything Goes, Baisden’s star now shines even more brilliantly. She captures Peggy’s initial frail vulnerability, and with a combination of her beautiful singing and mesmerising tap-dance skill, takes the audience with her on her fairy-tale journey.

Adam Garcia headlines as Julian Marsh, the demanding director of Pretty Lady, 42nd Street’s ‘show within a show’. Garcia’s musical theatre credentials are impeccable and he is compelling in both song and dance. As the villain of the piece (albeit with an ultimate heart of gold) Ruthie Henshall is similarly outstanding as Dorothy Brock with Henshall's singing, notably in I Only Have Eyes For You, proving a spine-tingling treat.

The shows comedy lines demand assured timing and confidence in their delivery. Les Dennis leads the line of featured performers carrying this responsibility and although Dennis’ remarkable background in stand-up and TV comedy gives him a raft of experience, he is a magnificent trouper who never overshadows Anthony Ofoegbu and Josefina Gabrielle in their contributions to the show’s gag content. Gabrielle also delivers moments of sung perfection in her role.

This is a production designed for the road with Robert Jones’ sets and Jon Driscoll’s projections providing a fine backdrop to the evening. If there is one small flaw it is that the ensemble is smaller than the script demands - but if the producers have understandably had to cut back on quantity, they score full marks for their show’s quality. The show’s music however sounds as if no expense has been spared with Jennifer Whyte’s 14-piece band making glorious work of Harry Warren’s classic melodies.

Shuffle off to Sadler’s Wells or catch the show touring until the Autumn. Either way, this take on 42nd Street makes for a fabulous night at the theatre.

Runs until 2nd July and then on tour

Photo credit: Johan Persson

South Pacific - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan

Directed by Daniel Evans

Julian Ovenden and Gina Beck

Transferring from its acclaimed revival at Chichester last year and returning to the London stage a decade after the Barbican last staged it in 2011, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific has opened for a month’s glorious residency at Sadler’s Wells. 

Daniel Evans has retained his lead performers from a year ago, with the chemistry between Julian Ovenden’s Emil de Becque and Gina Beck’s Ensign Nellie Forbush still vibrant and vocally stunning. Likewise, the love that grows between Lt Joe Cable (Rob Houchen) and the Polynesian Liat (Sera Maehara) is equally well defined. Of course, what sets this show apart is the United States’ racist culture that Rodgers and Hammerstein sought to challenge in their musical adaptation of James A. Michener’s original story.

75 years on from when the show premiered on Broadway many will find its handling of the racism of America’s Southerners and WASPS, problematic. Equally, the comparative youthfulness of Liat’s character does not stand up to close scrutiny in the post-MeToo era of the 21st century. It is however important that from a cultural perspective, the show should be recognised as a wonderfully curated museum piece. It was written for its time and should be enjoyed in that context.

Musically this production of the show is as wonderful as it was by the seaside last year! The songs are classics and to hear them sung, in a venue as acoustically fine as Sadler’s Wells and by voices such as these is a delight. The surprisingly powerful and unexpected melancholy that Joanna Ampil’s Bloody Mary brings to Happy Talk is one of the production’s more haunting highlights.  Another notable performance comes from Douggie McMeekin as the loveable Luther Billis, providing excellently timed comic relief.

Peter McKintosh’s set, paired with Howard Harrison’s lighting, are incredibly imaginative and make you feel as though you are right there on a sunny Pacific island. This alone is worth the visit to Sadler’s Wells as well as to regale in the show’s beautiful music and dance. It really will be some enchanted evening.

Runs until August 28th

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Gala Fiesta de la Buleria de Jerez: Mujeres de Cal y Cante - Review

Sadler's  Wells, London

****

“A meeting place in which several generations of women artists gather…”

The Flamenco Festival returned to Sadlers Wells this year, with this website reviewing the one-off performance of Gala Fiesta de la Buleria de Jerez: Mujeres de Cal y Cante. In an evening of compelling flamenco, the fusion of different artists on stage came to represent a community in an almost soap-opera like way. A place where rules, emotions, support, fun and of course singing and dancing are mixed together. Passion fuels the creation of a flamenco routine and it was inspiring to see women of different generations dancing beautifully with distinctive shape and stomping flamenco rhythms enriched by the beautiful voices of the singers.

A minimum of two people on stage created each dance. Typically the singer started, leading the dancer to start with slow movements and then increasing the tempo, dynamic and variations. The audience witnesses the emergence of the routine here and now on stage, as if it is not a prepared choreography, with the dance evolving into communication between the dancer and the singer. 

The most outstanding and composed dancer was Fuesanta la Moneta with a routine of various intriguing and unpredictable movements, so as her dance commenced one was eager to see her next move. La Moneta’s choreography was brilliantly executed as was her interaction with the singer Saira Molena, both performers connecting on stage and demonstrating skilled dance and song.  

Maria del Mar Marena was another charming, passionate dancer. Her continuous flamenco arm movement and stomping were mesmerising, with strong steps, as her face expressed a range of emotions, proof of her immersion in the routine. 

Fans of aesthetics and style you might find the show’s bold earthiness a challenge. The whole performance however was a symbiosis of passion, voice and rhythm that brought an extravagant, authentic and powerful dance to London.

The festival runs until 2nd July

Curated By Carlos - Review

Sadler’s Wells, London

****

Carlos Acosta

Birmingham Royal Ballet teased the capital with their tantalisingly brief visit to London’s Sadler’s Wells to perform Curated By Carlos, a beautiful three-act show that offered a fascinating and meticulously prepared narrative, immaculately performed and brimming with both emotion and talent.

Opening with a love letter to Birmingham, in City of A Thousand Trades the company delivered a modern abstract ballet inspired by the city's diverse cultural and industrial heritage, including stories of people who have decided to move there. While Birmingham may have been the focus of the piece, its narrative could have applied to any large English city. Places that albeit densely populated, are still lonely and isolating, especially for immigrants who may have left their families to move to this different country. 

City of a Thousand Trades was created by choreographer Miguel Altunaga and co-directed with Madeleine Kludje, with music inspired by its legacy as the birthplace of Heavy Metal, composed by Mathias Coppens.

The second act Imminent invited the audience to recognise that a window of opportunity is now calling upon us and that there is hope. It focussed on the the importance of letting go of the past, to take action and move boldly on.

Completing the triple bill, Goyo Montero’s Chacona featured the world premiere of a new duet created for Carlos Acosta and Alessandra Ferri. Having danced Manon together in Havana many years ago, this duet sees two of the all time greats reunited. Montero’s thrillingly physical work is set to an electrifying Bach score, performed live on stage by violin, guitar and piano

If the stories may have been abstract the dancing was impressive, filled with humanity, passion and sublime physicality. The evening offered a fabulous glimpse of modern ballet and the opportunity to admire what human bodies are capable of.

Singin' In The Rain - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

   

                Kevin Clifton, Adam Cooper and Charlotte Gooch

Music by Nacio Herb Brown

Lyrics by Arthur Freed

Book by Adolph Green and Betty Comden

Directed by Jonathan Church

One of the two classic tales that defined the impact of the ‘Talkies’ on Hollywood (the other of course being Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard) Singin’ In The Rain is an unashamedly joyous celebration of talent in both song and dance.

The story is an age-old fable. Silent movie Lina Lamont finds herself overtaken by the trend towards sound recording, and where Lamont may have the looks of a screen-goddess, her voice of course is an unbearable screech.

It takes the genius of Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown to spot the hidden talents in studio-hand Kathy Selden and as everyone knows, the dubbing skills of Selden go on to save the day with Selden herself being finally recognised for the vocal star that she is.

The story is simple, timeless and an endearing tribute to the triumph of good over evil. The show’s title of course derives from Lockwood’s deliriously happy discovery of both Selden’s voice and his own feelings for her – and while the title number has little impact upon the story’s arc it is a Broadway and Hollywood classic and here, under Jonathan Church’s deft direction, the front rows of the Sadlers Wells’ stalls are appropriately drenched in watery appreciation

Church and his choreographer Andrew Wright have reunited to recreate their 2011 Chichester triumph and they have been given a platinum cast to work with. Even more so in the fact that ten years ago it was Adam Cooper who starred as Don Lockwood and it is Cooper who returns to Sadler’s Wells.  With Kevin Clifton and Charlotte Gooch  as Cosmo and Kathy respectively, the trio are an unbeatable combination. Vocals and footwork are breathtaking in their pinpoint accuracy with even Faye Tozer’s squawky Lamont proving a further flawless joy.

For an evening of unqualified delight, this production of Singin’ In The Rain has to be one of the best shows in town.

Runs until 5th September, then tours, with tickets available here

The Red Shoes - Review

Sadler’s Wells, London


*****


Based on the film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
and the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Adam Cooper, Stephen Murray, Cordelia Braithwaite

Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes returns to Sadler’s Wells three years after it first premiered - and while the score and dance remain exquisite, there is a depth to this ballet that has only matured over time.

This time around, Bernard Herrmann’s score is played live with the ingenious transposition of work from his various movie compositions flowing so seamlessly around Bourne’s creation, that one senses the music could almost have been commissioned for this production.

The movement of course is exquisite in its story of a doomed love triangle that evolves within the Ballet Lermontov. A love blossoms between ballerina Victoria Page and Julian Craster a young composer at the ballet, while throughout Boris Lermontov, the company’s impresario harbours his own lustful desire for Page. Alongside this cocktail of human passion, there is within the tale, The Red Shoes Ballet itself, a Lermontov production that tells of the enchanted/cursed shoes, and the macabre power they can exert over their wearer.

On press night Ashley Shaw played Page, Dominic North, Craster and Adam Cooper, Lermontov with all three impeccable in their bringing to life the tragic romance. As the narrative shifts across Britain and France their dance, and of course the work of their fellow corps of dancers, allows this difficult and disturbing love story to unfold before us. In the 2019 iteration however, the psychology of the story’s underlying emotional complexities is even more vivid than three years ago. Unquestionably dark and yet stunningly portrayed, Bourne captures the gothic horror of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale and imbues it with a believable 20th-century relevance.

Lez Brotherston’s ingenious swivelling proscenium arch remains a masterclass in stage design, as Brett Morris conducts the New Adventures Orchestra with a heart-soaring fluidity. Playing into the new year, The Red Shoes continues to offer an evening of world class entertainment and dance.

Playing at Sadler’s Wells until 19th January 2020, then touring
Photo credit: Johan Persson

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake - Review

Sadler’s Wells, London


****

Directed by Matthew Bourne

Will Bozier and Ensemble

As one of dance’s most iconic productions, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake returns home to a rapturous reception. The story of The Prince, starved of love and chained by duty, who finally finds love and acceptance in an unlikely place, is a tragedy. Yet Bourne’s trademark injection of comedy is dialled up tenfold in this production, with laughs drawn from staging (a mechanical corgi), performances (notably The Girlfriend, played in this performance by Carrie Willis) and premise (notably the ballet performance watched by the royals, poking fun at traditional ballet stereotypes).

While the plot scurries along, the most striking elements remain those that feature The Swan and his herd. Such is the iconography of this character that when he finally makes an appearance in Act 2, perfectly paired with Tchaikovsky’s quintessential score, there is a frisson of excitement in the audience.

The swans are truly extraordinary. Their casting as male dancers, coupled with their costuming, enables Bourne to perfectly capture their grace, ferocity and strength. This also serves as an homage to the athleticism of a dancer, usually concealed or, at the very least, downplayed.

Yet there are times where it’s clear that a larger stage is required for the swan troupe, particularly in A City Park; it simply feels that it has outgrown its roots. That aside, the stage is awash with exquisite costuming, opulent set design and explosive choreography.

Individually, the Prince (a sweet and earnest Dominic North) and The Swan (the powerful Will Bozier) are stunning. Together, they are not a typical pairing - but that serves only to highlight the atypicality of Bourne’s vision. The Queen (Katrina Lyndon) and Willis also contribute memorable performances combining theatrics with dance excellence, all the whole bolstered by a superb ensemble.

23 years after its original staging at London’s Sadler’s Wells, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is back with more electricity, punch and swagger than ever before. With a standing ovation, the audience agrees; this is a must-see.

Runs until 27th January 2019

Reviewed by Bhakti Gajjar

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Cinderella - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Music by Prokofiev

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Liam Mower and Ashley Shaw

Witty, gothic and yet strangely enchanting, Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella returns to Sadler’s Wells for the festive season before heading out on tour. Where last year’s Christmas offering from Bourne’s New Directions company was The Red Shoes, this year it’s all about the glass (or rather, the sparkling diamanté) slippers as the classic fairytale, scored by Prokofiev is translated onto London during the Blitz of 1940.

Bourne’s Second World War staging was first aired in 1997, before a revival in 2010 leading to this 2017 slightly re-worked reprise and it makes for an uncompromising interpretation of the famous yarn. The best fairytales have always melded magic with monstrosity and Bourne’s vision upholds that fusion as goodness fights to triumph over evil.

The psychodrama here however is harrowing. We all know how the tale traditionally pans out, the wickedness of its opening chapters defining Cinderella’s family. Bourne however takes the darkness deeper. One of Cinderella’s step-brothers attempts to molest her, her stepmother tries to murder her and even the show’s hero - in this narrative a downed RAF pilot - is shown to be both physically and morally flawed.

In removing the traditional "royalty and castle" from the story, Bourne still preserves the classic three acts. The first depicts Cinderella’s domestic misery. The second, famously the Ball, is here shifted to London’s Café de Paris on the night that the venue was (as tragically occurred in real life) bombed during a German air raid.

The third sees the pilot searching London’s streets and tube station blitz shelters for the beautiful woman whose shimmering slipper he retained after she was taken away injured from the explosion. Bourne lobs in some novel twists, but rest assured there’s a pleasingly happy ending.

Ashley Shaw again assumes the responsibility of leading ballerina, in the title role and, as in The Red Shoes, is magnificent. Without referencing the technical intricacies of Bourne’s choreography, suffice to say that Shaw translates poetry into movement. Her love, desire and fears are all exquisitely portrayed in a performance that appears as exhaustingly athletic as it is artistically beautiful.

Opposite Shaw is Andrew Monaghan as Harry, the Pilot. Wounded and bomber-jacketed, he’s not the fairytale’s handsome Prince, rather a decently loving (and beautifully danced) everyman, who falls for the downtrodden heroine.

There’s not a fairy godmother to be found here. Instead, Liam Mower dances The Angel, gifted with magical powers to make Cinderella’s wish come true. Mower too is magnificent.

Amongst an excellent cast, a nod to Michela Meazza as Sybil the Stepmother. Bourne’s programme notes acknowledge a reference in Sybil to the 1940’s screen legend Joan Crawford – and Meazza beautifully embodies the aura of Crawford’s cruel mystique.

The influence of cinema again pervades Bourne’s work. There is a broad monochrome ambience throughout, interspersed with vivid flashes of colour, alongside assorted hints to movie classics that captured the 1940s. The reference to Brief Encounter in the final act (albeit without the standard Rachmaninov soundtrack) is a particular treat.

Bourne's dark interpretation of the story sits at odds with our expectations of the Cinderella narrative. But the challenge is a good one that creates a stunning interpretation that holds a mirror up to ourselves. Catch it now at Sadler’s Wells – or make every effort to see this enchanting ballet as it tours the country.

Runs until 27th January 2018, then tours. Touring dates here.

Photo credit: Johan Persson

The Red Shoes - Review

Sadler's Wells, London


*****


Based on the film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
and the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Ashley Shaw

The influences of cinema on Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes are everywhere. Walking into Sadler's Wells one sees that the stage is hidden behind an old style cinema curtain. The impression is both enchanting and effective, for Bourne’s latest offering is, in its elements, a ballet about a movie, about a ballet.

In the way that, back in 1948, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger created the Oscar winning movie that itself had been inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale - so too, nearly 70 years later has Bourne taken that movie and re-imagined it onto the dance stage. 

But this ballet is so much more than a glorious re-imagining of a classic film - for where Powell and Pressburger invited Brian Easdale to score the movie, Bourne has actually shifted his musical focus to Easdale's contemporary (and fellow Academy Award winner) Bernard Herrmann - and assisted by Terry Davies' magnificent orchestrations, a new musical composition for the ballet has been carefully stitched together, drawn entirely from Hermann's scores. The choice of music is inspired - and as cigarette smoke hangs in the air of nearly every scene, whilst the shoes may be red, the very essence of this production is noir.

The story revolves around Victoria Page, prima ballerina in the Ballet Lermontov and her role within "The Red Shoes" ballet within a ballet. The first half spills across locations in London and Monte Carlo and as Page moves closer to the first half's closing routine of the Red Shoes ballet itself, a doomed love triangle emerges. Boris Lermontov burns with an unrequited jealous desire for his star. Page however only has eyes for Julian Craster (Lermontov's orchestra conductor) and it is clear that both she and Craster are madly in love with each other.

Act Two tracks the trio across Europe and as much as Bourne's visionary choreography relates the narrative, so too does Lez Brotherston's stage design, with curves of balustrade immediately evoking the French Riviera. Brotherston draws upon the simplest concepts of design, married to 21st century technology. Suspended from a gantry, that itself moves across the stage in a way that the Starlight Express designers could only have dreamed of, the aforementioned cinema curtains evolve into the proscenium arches of opera houses, before melding into tugged back glimpses of the triangle's respective boudoirs as passions smoulder. Elsewhere, Brotherston’s evocation of a Monte Carlo steam engine is every bit as effective as his creation of a Mississippi steamboat for Sheffield's Showboat last Christmas.

But the beauty of a Bourne ballet is the visionary dance. As Victoria Page, Ashley Shaw drives the show, a mixture of poised passion and pathos. Bourne coaxes so much expression from her, both facial and in her movement, that the story flows effortlessly. Sam Archer and Dominic North as Lermontov and Craster respectively offer equally poised and perfectly weighted support to Page's arc. 

The Red Shoes Ballet sequence itself is of course enchanting. Duncan McLean’s projections providing a eerily ethereal backdrop to Bourne’s interpretation of the fairy tale. Alongside Shaw, Michela Meazza, Liam Mower and Glenn Graham as key dancers in the Ballet Lermontov provide a perfect complement to the story's detail. 

Sold out at Sadler's Wells for the rest of the run, a continued bravo to Sir Matthew and his New Adventures company for spending the next six gruelling months on the road, touring The Red Shoes around the UK. Whether one is a lifelong ballet devotee, or completely new to the genre, the show is unmissable. Kill to get a ticket!

Runs until 29th January 2017 - Then on tour. Tour details here

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty - Review

Sadler's Wells

*****

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

Ashley Shaw

Charles Perrault's classic fairy tale comes to the stage this season as Matthew Bourne completes his trilogy of Tchaikovsky's complete ballets. Sleeping Beauty (originally premiered in 2012) follows Swan Lake and The Nutcracker in typical Bourne style - it is clever, gripping and awe-inspiring.

Bourne pushes the boundaries of contemporary dance with striking choreography, so those looking for a typically Disney-esque treatment complete with dancers en pointe, will need to look elsewhere. But to anyone who is keen to experience the best of a small, innovative and enthralling company, this Sleeping Beauty is a delight.

The story is divided into four acts, each spanning a different period in time and - augmented by Lez Brotherston's fantastic costuming and set design - takes the audience on a journey through dance history. Beginning in 1890, with a nod to classical ballet, the tale progresses through 1911 to today, with movement on the more modern side of contemporary.

It is Bourne's desire to incorporate the 100 year sleep of Princess Aurora into the production that plays a pivotal role in this version of Sleeping Beauty, laying the gothic foundations of this self-described 'gothic romance.' The fairies are vampires, allowing the story to jump into the future without losing its characters to the mortal rite of death. And while there are dark undertones, an original use of puppetry also maintains the element of comedy.

Highlights include the dance of the fairies, which sees six striking solos merging neatly into one stellar piece; a scene set in the 'land of sleepwalkers' with fluid movements and the majority of the company on stage; and the wedding scene which, with its harsh undertones and choreography reminiscent of Christopher Bruce's Rooster, is truly captivating.

While these scenes may not sound familiar, it is worth noting that for all of the liberties Bourne has taken in telling this classic story, it firmly remains faithful to a “once upon a time” beginning and a delightfully happy ending.

Performances by Dominic North, as Leo the Royal Gamekeeper and Adam Maskell, as Carabosse the dark fairy and her son Caradoc are noteworthy. Both embody the spirit of their characters seemingly with ease - as the sweet and ever faithful Leo and sinister villains respectively. And Ashley Shaw's Princess Aurora is spell-binding, capturing the essence of the mischievous yet lovable royal daughter perfectly.

An outstanding production, in terms of originality, creativity and majesty, Sleeping Beauty is an unmissable masterpiece.

Runs until 26th January 2016

Guest reviewer: Bhakti Gajjar

National Youth Ballet Gala 2015 - Review

Sadler's Wells

****

The National Youth Ballet (NYB) celebrated the end of its 2015 season with a Gala programme at Sadler's Wells and the home of dance provided the ideal setting for some of Britain's most promising young talent.

Featuring 11 distinct pieces, each created by a young choreographer, the programme highlighted the breadth of abilities honed by each member of the company.

Over half of the show comprised dances that were being shown for the first time, each offering a completely different perspective. The Sighing (Jo Meredith) narrates the relationship between a soldier in the First World War and his lover at home, through a letter and powerful yet muted choreography. At the other end of the spectrum, Jamie Neale’s Trotters, featured elaborate costumes, staging and energetic dance, set to a live performance from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Venn from Eleanor Marsh, a contemporary, fluid and vibrant piece of work is also worth mentioning.

A highlight was Arielle Smith's Athena, presenting a twist on the classic story of Giselle, set within a dark underworld and blending elements of jazz, contemporary and street dance to unforgettable effect. Outstanding performances by Bryony Harrison and Chris Thomas suggest that both dancers have promising futures ahead. 

Wonderful to witness was the evolution of dance excellence through the ages. Performances such as Lavender’s Blue (Anna Meadmore), which featured younger dancers skipping gaily to a sprightly soundtrack of nursery rhymes,  contrasted with more complex and challenging performances by the older members of the company in the programme. 

A stellar performance by three of the NYB’s alumni, Rock n Roll (Jenna Lee), illustrated nicely how high these young dancers can go (quite literally, given the height of the dancers’ jumps and lifts) and would no doubt have provided much inspiration to the young troupe. 

The evening closed with a performance of Wayne Sleep’s Cinderella, which played to the youthfulness of the dancers. Spirited mice, lizards and the Ember Fairies were a delight, while the leads did a wonderful job in the well-established roles of Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Ugly Sisters.  

Cinderella offered a strong end to a varied and creative programme, supporting the conclusion of NYB Founding Director Jill Tookey and Patron Joanna Lumley, that the future of Britain’s ballet looks bright indeed.

Guest reviewer: Bhakti Gajjar