Sadler's Wells, London
The Venezuelan-born choreographer Javier de Frutos is a volatile talent. At its best, in pieces such as Paseillo and Nopalitos, his work has a dream-like intensity and strangeness. Sexual identities are ambiguous, and the atmosphere tense with obscure ritual. In The Most Incredible Thing, a three-act dance work based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story, he joins forces with Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and the result is at once spectacular and chilly. Aided by Metrosexuality designer Katrina Lindsay, Tennant and Lowe have located the story in a Soviet dystopia modelled on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Their music is dramatically textured, the choreography is deft and referential (Balanchine, Jooss, Nijinska) and the filmic effects come thick and fast.
Somewhere in this high-concept deluge, Andersen's poignant tale is lost. As delicate in structure as the paper cutouts with which the writer entertained his friends,...
The Venezuelan-born choreographer Javier de Frutos is a volatile talent. At its best, in pieces such as Paseillo and Nopalitos, his work has a dream-like intensity and strangeness. Sexual identities are ambiguous, and the atmosphere tense with obscure ritual. In The Most Incredible Thing, a three-act dance work based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story, he joins forces with Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and the result is at once spectacular and chilly. Aided by Metrosexuality designer Katrina Lindsay, Tennant and Lowe have located the story in a Soviet dystopia modelled on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Their music is dramatically textured, the choreography is deft and referential (Balanchine, Jooss, Nijinska) and the filmic effects come thick and fast.
Somewhere in this high-concept deluge, Andersen's poignant tale is lost. As delicate in structure as the paper cutouts with which the writer entertained his friends,...
- 3/27/2011
- by Luke Jennings
- The Guardian - Film News
Our critics pick the season's highlights. From Elisabeth Moss on stage to Adele's new album, these are the dates for your cultural diary
January
5 Film 127 Hours
Danny Boyle's 10th film tells the story of Aron Ralston, played by James Franco who severed his own arm with a penknife to escape after becoming trapped while hiking in Utah.
7 Film The King's Speech
Colin Firth is introverted monarch George VI, battling a debilitating stutter with the aid of an extroverted therapist (Geoffrey Rush). The ensuing friendship is touching – and, when the second world war breaks out, of national importance.
9 Classical Hollywood Rhapsody
The Bbcso and Chorus celebrate Hollywood's golden age. Composers include Korngold, Waxman, Rózsa; films range from The Wizard of Oz to Gone with the Wind. Barbican, London. 9 Jan only.
11 Theatre Twelfth Night
To mark his 80th birthday, Peter Hall returns to the National theatre, which he ran until 1988. He directs his daughter Rebecca,...
January
5 Film 127 Hours
Danny Boyle's 10th film tells the story of Aron Ralston, played by James Franco who severed his own arm with a penknife to escape after becoming trapped while hiking in Utah.
7 Film The King's Speech
Colin Firth is introverted monarch George VI, battling a debilitating stutter with the aid of an extroverted therapist (Geoffrey Rush). The ensuing friendship is touching – and, when the second world war breaks out, of national importance.
9 Classical Hollywood Rhapsody
The Bbcso and Chorus celebrate Hollywood's golden age. Composers include Korngold, Waxman, Rózsa; films range from The Wizard of Oz to Gone with the Wind. Barbican, London. 9 Jan only.
11 Theatre Twelfth Night
To mark his 80th birthday, Peter Hall returns to the National theatre, which he ran until 1988. He directs his daughter Rebecca,...
- 12/26/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
The Pet Shop Boys have written the musical score for ballet The Most Incredible Thing. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have joined up with London's Sadler's Wells Theatre to create a ballet version of a Hans Christian Andersen story. Ivan Putrov, the principal of The Royal Ballet, asked the musicians to write a score four years ago. According to the Metro, the pair said: "In the past, we have written music for the club dancefloor so to write music for the ballet stage seems like a logical development. Also we have always (more)...
- 7/8/2010
- by By Clare Wiley
- Digital Spy
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