Preview of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre
Coming the Milton Keynes Theatre next week is a return to the stage for the hit production The Great Gatsby brought to the stage by Northern Ballet. The production reaches Milton Keynes as part of its UK spring tour for 2022 which culminates in Cardiff in June. The production based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald brings all the glamour and seduction of the roaring twenties to life and premiered in 2013 and which has now had three UK tours.
Set on New York’s Long Island, in the heady, indulgent days of the 1920s, Nick Carraway comes to know his infamous neighbour Jay Gatsby – a mysterious millionaire with a secret past and a penchant for lavish parties. As the sparkling façade of Gatsby’s world slips, Carraway comes to see the loneliness, obsession, and tragedy that lie beneath.
The Great Gatsby was nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance. David Nixon OBE choreographed The Great Gatsby and earned a nomination for Best Classical Choreography in the 2014 National Dance Awards. Performed to the unforgettable music of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett CBE, which is played live by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, The Great Gatsby also features a lavish set designed by Jérôme Kaplan, complemented by the dazzling colourful costumes designed by Nixon.
David Nixon said: “I’m delighted to be bringing The Great Gatsby, one of the Company’s most beloved productions back to the stage this Spring. Like many, I fell in love with Fitzgerald’s timeless novel at a young age and it continues to capture my imagination to this day. As a choreographer, I had always wanted to depict Gatsby’s tale of passion and obsession through ballet and in 2013, with the help of Patricia Doyle, it was a thrill to bring The Great Gatsby to life. The glamour of the 1920s lends itself beautifully to the stage with stunning costumes and Jérôme Kaplan’s expertly designed set that conjures an America as painted by Edward Hopper. Music by the late Sir Rodney Richard Bennett CBE completes the backdrop and transports the audience to an elusive time of lavish parties and prohibition. So much has changed since the ballet was last performed in 2019 including the addition of many new young dancers to the Company so I am looking forward to seeing them flourish with this repertoire.”
The Great Gatsby performs at Milton Keynes from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 May.
First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...
This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...
Tambo & Bones , first performed in 2022, is a deliberately provocative play by Dave Harris, currently performing at Royal & Derngate, one of the co-creating theatres of this touring version. It is a powerful piece created in three acts that does not shy away from controversy and offence. However, does that all culminate in a piece of theatre worth your attention? Our opening sees Tambo and Bones, two black entertainers, named in history from names inspired by their accompanying instruments (here the tambourine and bone castanets) tasked with entertaining a white audience in the Minstrel show they find themselves involved in. Following their discovery, from a moment of audience observation, that everything is not what it seems, Tambo and Bones embark on a crusade of fighting back at history that has seen them trodden down. Writer Harris doesn't mince his words in describing the power whites have held over blacks for centuries. Without question, moments are deliberately uncom...
