Instrument: Choreography

Sir Peter Wright’s production returns to Birmingham Royal Ballet after an absence of five years, with Céline Gittens and Brandon Lawrence sharing great chemistry. 

Bleak adaptations of ballet classics are somewhat of a ballet trend at present, with Matthew Bourne’s gothic Sleeping Beauty playing to sell out audiences over Christmas 

I felt that the choreography as performed by these excellent dancers was enough to carry the story without such excessive use of text and animation

Albery's production allows the opera to speak for itself, although sluggish pacing in the pit detract from the musical merits of this revival. 

Over twenty-two vignettes, some long, others short, a cast of thirty pedestrianizes ballet. The work suggests that who you are matters more than what you do. 

Thanks to Barrie Kosky's flamboyant imagination and a solid cast, the Komische Oper's new production of La Cage aux Folles glitters, but could be more gay.