BeautyAndTheBeastPosterIntroduction

“Beauty And The Beast” is a ballet by Canadian dancer and choreographer Wayne Eagling, his third production with an original Vangelis score after the “R.B. Sque” (1983) and “Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus” (1985) ballet performances. The 25-minute ballet premiered on the 2nd of December 1986 at Covent Garden in London, performed by the Royal Ballet of the Royal Opera House.

The ballet is an adaptation of the age-old fairytale as told by Charles Perrault (his version from 1891), the well-known tale of the merchant’s daughter Belle and her encounter with the Beast.

Beauty And The Beast was the second production Eagling made for the Royal Opera House after “Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus” the previous year. Even though audiences loved the dark moody sets by the illustrator Jan Pieńkowski and the lush melodic music by Vangelis, theatre critics did not appreciate the production. Performances ran until February 1987, but the Royal Opera House never revived the ballet.

Even though preparations for the ballet began in the Spring of 1986, Vangelis only started composing his music much later and by that time he was already staying for an extended period of time in Los Angeles. Wayne and Vangelis discussed their ideas for the music over the phone, and Vangelis would send tapes with his music to London through express mail. Eagling recalled: ‘The tape would always arrive two days later than we needed it. We arrived for the first day of rehearsals five weeks ago and there was no music at all. It’s been a nightmare doing it this way. The cost of calls were astronomical, I fear it may be higher than the cost of the production!’.

In 2013 Wayne Eagling re-staged the "Beauty And The Beast" ballet in Moscow, this time in an extended version, for which Vangelis even composed additional music. However the music heard during this performance was not Vangelis arrangement, but transcribed for and played by a classical orchestra. 

 

Details and credits

BeautyAndTheBeastStill04Scenes

  1. The Beast's Castle
  2. The Garden Of The Castle
  3. Inside The Castle
  4. Beauty's Bedroom In The Castle
  5. The Banquet Hall Of The Castle
  6. Inside The Castle
  7. Finale 
  • Choreography by Wayne Eagling.
  • Music by Vangelis.
  • Set design: Jan Pieńkowski
  • Lighting designer: John B. Read
  • Conductor: Ashley Lawrence
  • Conductor: Barry Wordsworth
  • Leader: Hugh Maguire

BeautyAndTheBeastStill02Cast

  • Maria Almeida - Beauty
  • Lesley Collier - Beauty
  • Anthony Dowell - The Beast
  • Jonathan Cope - The Beast
  • Michael Coleman - The Father
  • Stephen Jefferies - The Sun
  • Fiona Chadwick - The Sun
  • Cynthia Harvey - The Moon
  • Antony Dowson - The Moon
  • Dancers: Bruce Sansom, Simon Rice, Peter Abegglen, Errol Pickford.

(note that cast may vary with each performance)

Performances

1986: Premiere on the 2nd of December 1986 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Performed by The Royal Ballet on December 2, 4, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 21 1986, January 15, 16 and 21 1987 and in February 4 1987.

 

Media

Unfortunately no recording of this ballet performance has been released. However four parts of the score with a total length of 14 minutes were broadcast in 2013 on a Russian radio station.

 

Recording studio

The music for Beauty And The Beast was recorded in Los Angeles in a mobile studio set up in a bungalow of The Beverly Hills hotel.

 

Links

 

Gallery

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