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Stunning new look for an old tale
Aladdin Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome ***** SUMPTUOUS sets, rich costumes, sweeping
music and some glorious dancing – what more could you ask for. The arrival premiere of David Bintley's Aladdin
heralding its arrival into Birmingham Royal Ballet's repertoire adds
another jewel into an already glittering crown. It is already a well known and loved story which
to most people involves Widow Twanky and look out behind you panto but
the tale is much older and much darker, with Aladdin perhaps the best
known of the Middle Eastern folk tales from The Book of One Thousand and
One Nights. Bintley's venture into the Arabian Nights,
premiered by the National Ballet of Japan in 2008, is full of colour,
narrative and humour as we follow the familiar tale of our impoverished
hero and his love for a princess, with a magic lamp and an evil magician
battling between the two. Chilean dancer César Morales brings not only
humour but a vibrancy to the role of Aladdin and does seem to have that
gift of flight when he dances. He has two pas de deux with Nao Sakuma
which are just a delight and a couple of lifts make your arms ache just
watching.
Their dance in the splendid set of the royal bath
house is perhaps the best of the evening. Nao, as Princess Badr-al-Budur, which apparently
means Full Moon of Full Moons, seems to get better and better. She just
makes it all look so easy with dancing which is just beautiful and
graceful to watch. Combine that with no mean acting ability and a sense
of fun and you get the feeling she could dance to the Nokia mobile
ringtone and make it interesting. Iain Mackay as The Mahgrib, the evil Berber
magician, added a little panto gusto to his evilness . . . oh yes he did
. . . all flamboyant sweeps of cloak and exaggerated gestures to let
everyone know here was a baddie of some stature. Mind you the old Princess Full Moons of Full Moons should be ashamed of herself for changing Aladdin's large, glow in the dark, shiny gold lamp for the titchy, dull silver tat the Mahgrib was offering in his new lamps for old scam. Props could at least give the baddie something flashy enough to tempt a princess. Still there is no accounting for taste so she
still swapped it which led to her capture by the evil one. The Mahgrib's
dance with the Princess with Aladdin, disguised as one of his harem of
burkha clad beauties, trying to slip a Micky Finn into his goblet of
Moroccan merlot, or whatever, is a comic highlight. Another runner in the comedy stakes is BRB's
resident scene stealer Marion Tait, the assistant director, who manages
to make the part of Aladdin's mother punch well above its weight with
little gestures and actions to add to the fun.. Tzu-Chao Chou is a dramatic Djinn of the lamp,
genie for the pantophiles, who richly deserved the enthusiastic applause
for his athletic dancing. Meanwhile back at the story, Aladdin is first
taken by the Maghrib to the desert where we come across the delectable
desert winds in an Arabian dance before Aladdin's incarceration in the
cave after being sent in there to retrieve the lamp.
There he is surrounded with wealth beyond even
the dreams of Croesus producing a series of dances of the jewels with
Onyx and Pearls, Gold and Silver, Sapphire, Rubies, Emeralds and
Diamonds with the stalactites and stalagmites of the cave changing
colour to match the gems. Too many star names to mention in a jewel box
of shining dances, each different and each exquisite. Once the old Mahgrib has had his comeuppance and
everyone is set to live happily ever after at the Royal Palace we get
the celebrations with first the Lion Dance which if Calsberg did
pantomime horses . . . it would struggle to be better than Birmingham
Royal Ballet's . . . probably be the best pantomime horse in the
world. James Barton and Mathias Dingman are just fabulous as the
prancing , dancing Chinese lion while a later dragon dance is equally
remarkable for its complexity. This is a ballet with a familiar story from years
of panto brought to life in a new, innovative way by David Bintley all
aided by some clever sets from Dick Bird opening with a cloth of
brooding clouds and that magical lamp. We even get a set of flying ducks
. . . geese . . . swans . . . white birds giving an animated ducks on
the wall background, and a genuine flying carpet carrying a rather
nervous looking Aladdin and Princess. We had a cave with an entrance high in the sky
with a whale skeleton entrance while the royal bath house with its domed
roof and running taps was simply stunning. That was also down to Mark Jonathan's excellent
lighting while Sue Blane's costumes added to the colour and extravagance
of a marvellous production. Carl Davis's music gave us another element. This
might have been a night of Eastern promise by the opening theme had a
hint of one of those great westerns of the 50s and 60s about it – which
is no criticism I might add. This is a flowing, at times soaring score,
cinematic as much as balletic, which is no bad thing as the music is
part of the story to drive the narrative along. There is perhaps more rich, melodic brass and
less strings than ballet audiences are used to which adds yet another
dimension to the performance and, as usual, Paul Murphy and the
excellent Royal Ballet Sinfonia make sure every note counts. Incidentally, Aladdin was not in the original
Book of One Thousand and One Nights when it was translated from Arabic
by Frenchman Antoine Galland, he added it later, in 1710, after
hearing the tale from a Syrian storyteller. Now the story has been wonderfully told again by
Birmingham Royal Ballet and is as fresh as ever. Roger Clarke
And from the back of the cave ***** WORLD class choreographer David Bintley
has triumphed again with this brilliant ballet which he originally
created in 2008 for the National Ballet of Japan. Now it's the BRB's turn to perform the UK
premiere, and the story which has been a pantomime favourite for decades
is, with a few subtle twists, transformed into a dance classic. Here young Aladdin is a local tearaway who is
rescued from armed palace guards in a Chinese market by the evil
magician Mahgrib (Iain Mackay), who plans to use him to pluck the magic
lamp from a deep, dark cave. But our hero, played with
a perfect mix of mischievousness and skill by Cesar Morales, triumphs in
the end with the help of the Djinn (Genie) and wins the hand of the
beautiful Princess Badr-al-Budur. Nao Sakuma, the princess, dances superbly with
Morales, and there is an impressive performance from Tzu-Chao Chou as
the Djinn whose appearances - sometimes airborne - are accompanied by
the expected large puff of smoke. But the big scene arrives when Aladdin
and his princess fly serenely to safety through clouds on a magic
carpet. Earlier Aladdin discovers a fantastic hoard of
jewels, gold and silver in the cave which sets the scene for the
exquisitely costumed cast to represent the glittering gems in a series
of superb dances, none better than the rubies (Ambra Vallo and Tyrone
Singleton). The closest link between this remarkable ballet
and pantoland comes in the amusing interventions of Marion Tait as
Aladdin's mother, while dances featuring two men in a Chinese lion
costume, and later the traditional dragon dance, are a visual delight. Nor should the contribution of the legendary Carl
Davis be overlooked. His music is simply perfect for the story, and is
delivered with the usual quality by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted
by Paul Murphy who, along with Bintley, joined the cast for a well
deserved bow at the close of a ballet which earned cheers on opening
night. To 23.02.13 Paul Marston
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