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PRESS RELEASE: BRB’S 2012 SUMMER SEASON at BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME


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BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S 2012 SUMMER SEASON at BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

 

David Bintley’s production of Far From the Madding Crowd

A mixed bill Summer Celebration

 

Venue and booking information:

Birmingham Hippodrome: Tickets: 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com

 

Birmingham Royal Ballet is delighted to return to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage from 20 – 30 June. The Company will perform its summer season in its home town with two programmes; David Bintley’s captivating production of Far From the Madding Crowd, and a mixed bill Summer Celebration.

 

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD20 – 23 JUNE

 

Far From the Madding Crowd, created by David Bintley, Company Director and award-winning creator of the Company’s huge Christmas hit Cinderella, enjoyed its world premiere in 1996 performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Now sixteen years later it is once again being performed at the Company’s home theatre.

 

Passions run out of control in this balletic adaption of Thomas Hardy's famous novel. It is an enrapturing story of lust, deceit and murder, with one woman at the centre of it all.

 

Bathsheba Everdene sends ripples through the lives of three men as they compete for her love. The dependable farm-hand Gabriel Oak, the dignified but obsessive William Boldwood and the dashing but deceitful Sergeant Francis Troy, all vie with each other for the heart of the woman they love... Bathsheba's complex relationship with all three leads one to death, one to madness and the other to true love.

 

Adorned in stunningly detailed period costumes and sets by designer Hayden Griffin, and with an evocative score by Paul Reade, composer of the Company's Hobson's Choice, Far from the Madding Crowd makes a very welcome return to the stage. If you are a fan of the worlds of Gone with the Wind, Cranford or The Forsyte Saga, this is a ballet for you.

 

SUMMER CELEBRATION 27 - 30 JUNE

(The Grand Tour / Faster / The Dream)

 

A sizzling taste of Shakespeare, Noel Coward and Olympic dreams round off the Company’s 2011/12 season at Birmingham Hippodrome.

 

All aboard for the roaring 20s with The Grand Tour! Setting out for Europe, our heroine, a doughty American spinster, can't believe her luck when she embarks on her cruise and finds herself in the company of a feast of famous faces. However, it turns out that Noël Coward, Gertrude Stein and George Bernard Shaw, to name but a few, aren't necessarily the friendliest of shipmates. Add stowaways and a rather handsome Chief Steward into the mix and things might get a little... complicated.

 

Choreographer of many films and hit Broadway shows, Joe Layton's The Grand Tour is a genuinely funny take on the eccentric celebrities that populated England's stages, screens and newspapers in the 1920s. Accompanied by unique orchestral renditions of Noël Coward songs, the critically-acclaimed The Grand Tour makes a long-overdue return to the stage.

 

Faster is a brand new ballet inspired by the Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’, and comes from the award-winning team behind E=mc². After winning the last ever South Bank Show Dance award in 2010 with E=mc², Company Director David Bintley embarks on a second collaboration with renowned Australian composer Matthew Hindson. This ballet of speed, power and athleticism will be a fitting creation for the lead-up to London 2012.

 

Rounding off the Summer Celebration triple bill is The Dream. The course of true love never did run smooth... certainly not if a group of mischievous fairies have anything to do with it! In Frederick Ashton's The Dream, having argued with beautiful Titania, Oberon, king of the fairies, seeks a suitable revenge. He orders the fairy Puck to transform a dopey local peasant into a donkey and cause Titania to fall in love with it. This he does, but things soon get out of hand - over-use of the love potion pits friend against friend and hilariously embroils four poor mortals in the fairies' games.

 

Felix Mendelsson's tuneful and instantly recognisable music to A Midsummer Night's Dream becomes the basis for Ashton's elfin comedy, as he shows his mastery of dance, theatre and humour, weaving and unravelling an other-worldly web of mischief.

 

 

 

PERFORMANCE DIARY FOR THE 2012 BIRMINGHAM SUMMER SEASON

 

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Birmingham Hippodrome: Wednesday 20 – Saturday 23 June

Daily at 7.30pm plus matinees at 2pm on Thursday and 2.30pm on Saturday

 

SUMMER CELEBRATION (THE GRAND TOUR/ FASTER/ THE DREAM)

Birmingham Hippodrome: Wednesday 27 – Saturday 30 June

Daily at 7.30pm plus matinees at 2pm on Thursday and 2.30pm on Saturday

 

Venue and booking information:

Birmingham Hippodrome: Tickets: 0844 338 5000 www.birminghamhippodrome.com

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Hello Janet

is there a casting for the triple bill ,I love The Dream and my husband has fond memories of Grand tour, Matinee is best for us .Can you compare the casts of G T with the earlier (!978-1983)casts, you must be too young to have seen Barbieri Wicks Dubreuil Williams etc..

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Hi Cabriole, BRB only tend to post the casting about 10 days to 2 weeks before hand. I am hoping Chi will be back for The Dream - he was magnificent in Munich! Joe Caley also excellent. I'll put up the link as soon as I see it on the Company's website.

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Chi Cao is a lovely dancer I really enjoyed his portrayal of Li Xuxin in the film(why was it never released world wide) a far better film than Black Swan "AWFUL" film (imo) if he is better I doubt he will do a Matinee.Still looking forward to Grand Tour.

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