Schaufuss Ballet - Midnight Express

[Sim]

Peter Schaufuss Ballet opened at the London Coliseum tonight. Aside from the departure of Polunin, does anyone have  comments about the ballet? We'd love to hear them please!

[johnross]

Not for the squemish but well done.  Stunning set. The Jailor was replaced by Ben Whitson the Director and was of course excellent.  Young Billy - was well danced  by Johan Christensen who replaced Sergei Polunin.  It would have been interesting to see Sergei stripped to the waist showing all his tattoes. The whole cast did an excellent job to convey the drama as inmates and guards in the jail. Here are a couple of impresions.

 

 

 Billy - Johan Christensen and Ben Whitson as Jailor

 

 

The company as inmates in the jail

 

More on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

[blackdove]

I thought some of the choreography was very good and Johan Christensen gave an excellent interpretation of Billy ably supported by a very talented cast of dancers.If work didn't dictate otherwise I would go for a second viewing.

[Sim]

Great photos as always, John.  Many thanks for posting.

[Jan McNulty]

Brilliant photographs John.  Thanks for your positive comments too.

 

I saw the film Midnight Express when it was first released so I never expected this production to be other than gritty and shocking to say the least.

[simonbfisher]

Excellent set - some interesting music (!) - some very impressive dancing.

 

I liked Stefan Wise (RB trained) very much both in his long solo and in the pdd with Megumi Oki : for me he was the stand-out dancer last night.

 

Daniel Cardoso was also very good as the intellectual - and wore glasses to differentiate him as such. (The only other on-stage glasses I can remember were in the Trocs. Somewhat different).

 

Johan Christensen seemed at ease in the part - no sign of nerves or unrehearsedness. Very much in control.

 

The corps were uniformly good, though some of the choreography that they were performing was less than pleasing - the guards at the beginning and again in Act Two looked as if they were in a Madonna video, though I guess the robotic moves were meant to be threatening and dehumanised. The Dance of the Office Chairs, too, was odd : froglike and almost farcical.

 

Still, I'm really glad we went and that the (smallish) audience was so loudly supportive of the whole cast, who must have been through a difficult time and came out of it with flying colours. 

[Amelia]

Both Mark Monahan and Neil Norman give one star to "Midnight Express" and show their appreciation why Polunin and Zelensky abandoned this production. 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/9987866/Midnight-Express-Peter-Schaufuss-Ballet-London-Coliseum-review.html 

 

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/391311/Midnight-Express-London-Coliseum-Ballet-review

 

I don't even remember one star being given to any other ballet (ballet?) production.

[Chris]

I was so intrigued by the poor reviews (with comparisons to Village People as if that were a bad thing!) that I got a very cheap ticket to yesterday's matinee. The disco dancing and the Stomp-style riot scene were terrific, although perhaps not to the taste of the critics. The set was also excellent and Johan Christensen was superb as Billy Hayes but the soundtrack was terribly clumsily put together - Peter Schaufuss should have got a proper DJ to do it. I enjoyed my afternoon but would have been disappointed if I'd paid full price.