Word: cranko
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Dancers from virtually every major opera house in Europe tripped into Stuttgart. They came not to dance but to huddle in the wings and watch the latest creations of Württemberg State Opera Ballet Director John Cranko, who has built a reputation among dancers and audiences alike as the most creative young choreographer in all of Europe. At the conclusion of last week's annual Ballet Festival, the burgeoning army of Crankophiles was more enthusiastic than ever...
...sistance, a robust rendering of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, followed by a lavish, streamlined Swan Lake featuring nothing less than the reigning tandem of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, who had volunteered their services and spent one week of intensive rehearsals mastering the myriad refinements of Cranko's interpretation. But the creation that stirred the most frenetic response from the crowd was the première of a handsomely preened and plumed production of Stravinsky's Fire Bird, grounded in the Fokine tradition but soaring to new heights on the wings of Prima Ballerina Marcia Hayd...
...other new ballets-Ashton's La Péri and MacMillan's Noctambules-failed despite inspired and startling flashes of choreographic brilliance. The most ballyhooed premiere of all was Prince of the Pagodas (TIME, Jan. 14) by John Cranko, with music by Benjamin Britten (his first ballet score). Choreographer Cranko's splintered story had in it recurrent themes from Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, plus snatches of court intrigue reminiscent of King Lear viewed through the wrong end of the telescope. The stage was roiled by gaudy dancers, the sets were feverish with color, but despite...
...Prince of the Pagodas was a mixed bag of occasionally singing melody and frequently turgid choreography. For at least two acts, Britten's music was sonorous and strong, enriched by a variety of percussion effects and deft syncopation. Less successful was the work of Choreographer John Cranko, who all too frequently allowed the story to lose its way in symbolic labyrinths. The fantastic plot describes the betrayal of a Lear-like king by his wicked daughter, and the eventual restoration of the king's realm by the intervention of his faithful and beautiful younger daughter...
Cranks (by John Cranko; music by John Addison) is a pint-sized English revue with a Jeroboam's worth of frills. Three men and a girl squeal or kneel or sit with their backs to the audience, climb things while they rhyme things, weave about or dance or contort while singing ballads or blues. In a welter of shifting lights, one revue number slithers into the next while the performers act as their own stagehands...