Sweeney Todd (ballet)

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Sweeney Todd
Choreographer John Cranko
MusicMalcolm Arnold
Based on The String of Pearls
Premiere10 December 1959
Original ballet company Royal Ballet
Characters
DesignAlix Stone
Setting Fleet Street, London
Genre Horror

The ballet Sweeney Todd, Op. 68 by Malcolm Arnold was completed in 1959. It is a one-act ballet based on the legend of Sweeney Todd, a villain in The String of Pearls serial. The scenario and original choreography were by John Cranko and the scenery and costumes by Alix Stone in the style of Victorian toy theatres. [1] It was first performed by the Royal Ballet touring company on 10 December 1959, at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, with the Royal Opera House Orchestra conducted by John Lanchbery. The dancers who created the roles in the first production were Donald Britton (Sweeney Todd), Johaar Mosaval (Tobias), Elizabeth Anderton (Johanna), Desmond Doyle (Mark Ingestre), Ian Hamilton (Colonel Jeffrey). [2]

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Concert suites

In 1984, the composer David Ellis compiled a 20-minute concert suite, Op. 68a from the ballet in collaboration with the composer. [3] The suite was first performed on 19 June 1990 at Bristol University with the University Chamber Orchestra. A shortened version of the suite was arranged for brass band by Phillip Littlemore. It had its first performance on 22 October 2006 at the Malcolm Arnold Festival, Derngate in Northampton by the Rushden Windmill Band led by Richard Graves.

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The cultural year was dominated by the Festival of Britain and the opening of The Royal Festival Hall, the first dedicated concert hall of its size to be built in London since 1893: located on the south bank of the Thames, this was to host concerts by major orchestras from Britain and abroad. The Festival itself was a celebration of music, art and theatre. It notably provided an opportunity for the staging of many events seen during the first Folk music Festival held in Edinburgh, organised with the help of such talents as the American Alan Lomax, the Irish traditional musician Seamus Ennis and the political theatre director Ewan MacColl, who would go on to form the Ballad and Blues Club.

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References

  1. Percival J. Theatre in my blood - a biography of John Cranko. The Herbert Press Ltd, London, 1983.
  2. Bland A. The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. Threshold Books, London, 1981.
  3. Burton-Page P. Liner notes for Conifer Classics recording CDCF224 (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley), 1993.