RB's Macmillan Triple Bill 2003

Joanne · **Posted:** Fri May 02, 2003 1:53 am

Review from The Telegraph.

Quote:

When the 26-year-old Kenneth MacMillan produced his first commissioned work, in 1955, it was rapturously received. The piece was Danses Concertantes, and even though MacMillan would go on to choreograph more than 60 ballets, the originality of this first work still gleams today, as its staging in this celebratory triple bill proves.

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And from The Times.

Quote:

IF YOU’RE not a Kenneth MacMillan fan, you won’t be happy with the remainder of this Royal Ballet season. It’s wall to wall MacMillan. More Manon, more Romeo and Juliet, a revival of Song of the Earth still to come, and right now a triple bill that showcases three different facets of the choreographer’s career. Only David Bintley’s new Covent Garden commission and Frederick Ashton’s superb Scènes de Ballet offer relief from the MacMillan onslaught.

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And The Guardian.

Quote:

Any Covent Garden regular will know that Kenneth MacMillan's Danses Concertantes (made in 1955 and still frequently performed) is an exemplary young man's ballet. Created early in his career, the work can barely contain the torrent of ideas coursing through it, nor hide its relish in its own powers of invention.
But the Royal's revival, with the original Nicholas Georgiadis designs, gives us an even sharper sense of the ballet's youthful brio and also of its period. Georgiadis's fluorescent colour matches (lime, orange, electric blue), his nervy scribbling lines of decoration, his fantastical mix of jazz and carnival references all speak of a generation breaking out of 1950s austerity.

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<small>[ 20 January 2004, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Fri May 02, 2003 1:48 pm

Short piece about the new RB triple:

Gang rape ballet forms part of Covent Garden triple bill
By Ian Burrell for The Independent

A ballet about gang rape is the centrepiece of a triple bill of works by Kenneth MacMillan to be performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House this month.

The Judas Tree, set near Canary Wharf in London's Docklands, was MacMillan's last work for The Royal Ballet and was premiered in 1992.

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Joanne · **Posted:** Sun May 04, 2003 4:24 am

Review from The Observer.

Quote:

The Royal Ballet's MacMillan bill, a tribute marking the tenth anniversary of his death, emphasises his use of Christian imagery, although he, like Taylor, was not a believer. The three crucified figures in Gloria's finale are a reproach to those who let the sacrifices happen; the soldiers' accusing fingers point at the audience.

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Joanne · **Posted:** Tue May 06, 2003 1:40 am

Review from The Independent.

Quote:

To put Kenneth MacMillan's first creation for the Royal Ballet and his last on a triple bill with one typical intervening work seemed a neat idea. But in practice it makes a depressing evening.

Danses concertantes, created in 1955 as he began his career, is the redeeming element. To Stravinsky's score, attractively jaunty and quirky (even if too stolidly played this time under Richard Bernas's direction), MacMillan was inspired by his amazing original cast – every one of them ideal for the roles – to invent unexpected, humorous, spiky patterns of dance.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed May 07, 2003 12:01 am

Macmillan Triple Bill
By Clement Crisp for The Financial Times

With an unaccustomed sense of enterprise, the Royal Ballet has mounted a triple bill of MacMillan work that brackets the elegies of Gloria with his first and last creations,Danses Concertantes and The Judas Tree. Danses marked MacMillan's professional debut as a choreographer, and I still recall its first night at Sadler's Wells: how the eye was teased by the sparks of energy and wild originality given off by the movement, how the Georgiadis designs glowed and flashed, how bright-footed the young cast seemed. Why had no-one ever used fingers like this before? Or turned staid ideas on their heads, and made partnering witty? Danses was a declaration of talent, of the arrival of the new heir. Forty-eight years on, it is still intoxicating, especially since the original Georgiadis designs have been restored. The Covent Garden stage is too big for it (the Wells provided a more concentrated frame) and the orchestral playing was toothless (Stravinsky with no rhythmic bite is not Stravinsky) but the steps were mercurially done - Johan Kobborg has the same muscular bounce as Donald Britton, who was the first boy in yellow - and Georgiadis' colours match the dance's brightness. The ballet is a marvel.

The FT seems to be having some trouble and another review runs on at the bottom

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu May 08, 2003 3:40 am

Royal Ballet – Triple Bill
By Lucy Wallis for The Stage

There is no getting away from the fact that Kenneth MacMillan was a creative genius and this triple bill from the Royal Ballet is a tribute to his choreographic magic.

The evening begins with Danses Concertantes. This was his first commissioned work in 1955 and it is amazing to think that he choreographed this sophisticated and stylised piece, set to Stravinsky's score, at such an early stage in his career.

He also had the foresight to collaborate with the late and great designer, Nicholas Georgiadis, on it. Laura Morera and Yohei Sasaki do not disappoint as they bring this elegant and quirky piece to life.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Sun May 11, 2003 6:20 am

RB Triple
By David Dougill for the Sunday Times

At Covent Garden, continuing this season’s commemoration of Kenneth MacMillan, the Royal Ballet’s triple bill juxtaposed a new revival of Danses Concertantes, his first professional work (1955), with his final ballet, The Judas Tree (1992), and the choral Gloria (1980). Nicholas Georgiadis’s original, brightly hued, fantastical designs have been re-created for Danses Concertantes, and these — together with MacMillan’s brilliantly inventive, spiky choreography — shine out as fresh and newly minted.

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Joanne · **Posted:** Mon May 12, 2003 11:17 pm

Review from The Independent.

Quote:

Kenneth MacMillan was a man of many modes and moods, and showing his first work alongside his last made a neat and telling opener to the Royal Ballet's MacMillan season, 10 years on from his death. His two full-evening crowd-pullers – Manon and Romeo and Juliet – will be hogging the schedules soon enough, so it was right, if a little optimistic, to kick off with a more recherché programme.

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RB's Macmillan Triple Bill 2003

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