Birmingham Royal Ballet’s new Aladdin has its London premiere this evening. The newest family-friendly ballet to hit town, David Bintley’s new production aims to attract audiences of all ages by working with a well-known story, high production values, catchy tunes and the full company on display. A co-production with Houston Ballet, Aladdin has designs by Dick Bird and costumes by Sue Blane. The formula has proven very successful at The Royal Ballet/National Ballet of Canada, with Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (currently in its third revival) and more recently at Dutch National Ballet/San Francisco Ballet with another Wheeldon, a restaging of Cinderella.
Aladdin was originally choreographed in 2008 for the National Ballet of Japan, after Bintley fell in love with Carl Davis‘s score. Given that dancers in Japan are better know for their technical fireworks than for understated drama, Bintley decided to make Aladdin “a real dance show”, with plenty of divertissements and big numbers for the leads. He has now reworked his original version, adapting it for Birmingham Royal Ballet’s touring needs.
BRB has documented the making of the ballet in a wonderful blog, “Creating Aladdin”. Ahead of tonight’s performance, we also have below a selection of images of Bintley’s latest three-act extravaganza.
Click on each photo to see the caption:
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And more here:
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Photo Credits: © Bill Cooper
Watch the Trailer:
Birmingham Royal Ballet performs Aladdin at the London Coliseum,  20-24 March 2013. For more information and booking, visit the English National Opera or Birmingham Royal Ballet websites or follow on Twitter @BRB
