I am a newbie who watched the brilliant program "The King Who Invented Ballet" on tv and was enthralled. I had to watch the program again and thought I had recorded it. Just to see the way they danced at court was fascinating. So having seen the ballet on tv I booked to see the production at Sadlers Wells.
It was truly wonderful - two people near me said it was "stunning". I absolutely loved the dancing, the music, the choreography, the costumes and staging. Sadly Plymouth is too far away from me so that I could get to see it again soon.
I thought William Bracewell was outstanding as the King and Tyrone Singleton gave a great performance as Mazarin. However I was sorry not to see Iain McKay as Mazarin, who appeared in the tv production and was very threatening and aggressive. Sadly a shoulder injury has prevented him from dancing recently.
David Bintley has been so clever with the choreography and one needs to know more about the original Ballet de la Nuit to know how he embodied so much of the various stages in his ballet. The tv production informed that illustrations of the numerous characters are at Waddesdon Manor in the UK in an antique book, some appearing in David Bintley's ballet in the nightmare scene.
Now I am devastated as the iPlayer of the programme ceased before the London production and I had not recorded it. Also you cannot get a recording of Stephen Montague's music. I would gladly pay for both! All one can hope is that they show "The King Who Invented Ballet" again for all our sakes.
