Ballet
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The Nutcracker – Christmas Magic In Birmingham
The most iconic ballet of all time last night re-opened at the Birmingham Hippodrome, following a extensive rebuild of John Macfarlane’s famously beautiful sets. Yes, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ is back in all its glory, as sparkly and new as it looked in 1990, and totally ready to enthral audiences once again. As wonderful as the London production was in 2021, this is the visual treat that always signifies the start of Christmas in Birmingham, and last night, with Sir Peter Wright in the audience, the snow fell on the stage, the rats were led back to their cage, and the magic was truly a joy to behold. The…
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Birmingham Royal Ballet Breathe life into Coppelia
The Birmingham Royal Ballet Autumn season concludes its Birmingham run this week with the opening at the Hippodrome of Sir Peter Wright’s Coppelia , directed by Carlos Acosta. I was at the press night last night and, once again, the BRB showed why they are one of the world’s greatest ballet company’s with a production that is grace and charm personified. The story of Coppelia is one full of humour and deception, featuring the aged old love triangle between a boy,a girl and a wooden doll. Of course, the village Lothario Franz doesn’t realise that the new object of his lust, the beautiful lady who sits on the balcony of…
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Birmingham Royal Ballet Introduce Into The Music
Birmingham Royal Ballet introduced its latest triple header at the Birmingham Hippodrome last night, with the premiere of the exhilarating ‘Into the Music‘. The programme, consisting of three short ballets, Forgotten Land, Hotel and The Seventh Symphony was explained as a celebration of the marriage of music and movement, and it certainly delivered on all counts, with the elegance of the dance only matched by the soaring syphonies of Benjamin Britten and Beethovan, performed majestically by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Forgotten Land The programme started with the brilliant, haunting Forgotten Land. Based on the painting ‘Dance of Life’ showing the different stages of life by Edvard Munch, the ballet starts…
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The Nutcracker Returns To The Birmingham Hippodrome
I’ve always said that Christmas truly begins with a performance of The Nutcracker by the Birmingham Royal Ballet. This year this seems to be truer than ever, and so it is a warm return that greets a different version of the perennial favourite, with the Birmingham Hippodrome this year hosting the London version, one that combines the traditional ballet with wonderful projections, and also gives the ballet a voice in the form of narrator magician Drosselmeyer (danced to perfection by Rory Mackay, voiced by the inimitable Simon Callow.) The story is still the one we know and love, albeit with a charming Victorian opening set around Drosselmeyer’s toy shop.…
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Beauty and the Beast casts a spell at the Birmingham Hippodrome
One of the most beloved of all fairy stories proved to be equally as enchanting when performed as a ballet, when Beauty and the Beast weaved it’s spell at the Birmingham Hippodrome last night. The latest production by the Birmingham Royal Ballet told that age of told of love conquering all with a mixture of menace and charm, and with an ending that was sublimely romantic. The story is the one we are all familiar with, an angry violent Prince is transformed into a beast by a woodsman disgusted by his bloody pursuit of a vixen. Meanwhile, a down-on-his-luck merchant, faced with baliffs and creditors, is waiting for a fleet…
