The Invitation (ballet)

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The Invitation is a one-act ballet with choreography and libretto by Kenneth MacMillan, created in 1960 for the Royal Ballet. The music, composed for the work, is by Mátyás Seiber. Featuring Lynn Seymour as The Girl and Desmond Doyle as The Husband, seduction and rape are at the heart of this piece which generated controversy at the time; particularly the scene of the rape. Lynn Seymour contributed greatly to the success of the performance. "If the Invitation is MacMillan's ballet, it is also Miss Seymour's" was written in The Times . [1] The first performance was on 10 November 1960 by the Royal Ballet Touring Company at the New Theatre Oxford. It was first given at the Royal Opera House on 30 December 1960. [2]

Kenneth MacMillan British ballet dancer and choreographer

Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.

Mátyás György Seiber was a Hungarian-born composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartók and Kodály, to Schoenberg and serial music, to jazz, folk song, film and lighter music.

Lynn Seymour is a Canadian-born retired ballerina and choreographer.

Original cast

New Theatre, Oxford, 10 November 1960:

Christopher Michael Gable, CBE was an English ballet dancer, choreographer and actor.

Barbara Remington is an American artist and illustrator. Born in Minnesota, she is probably best known for her cover-art for Ballantine Books' first paperback editions of J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and for her Tolkien-related poster A Map of Middle-earth.

Anne Heaton was a British ballet dancer and teacher.

Notes

  1. ↑ The Royal Opera House Magazine, January 2016, p. 66.
  2. ↑ "The Invitation (1960)", Royal Opera House Collections Online, retrieved 8 October 2014


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