Carlos Acosta, artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, aims to get new audiences with a fusion of classical ballet and heavy metal music. Two incompatible worlds collide.
The production celebrates the legacy of Black Sabbath, who pioneered a new style of rock and are considered the godfathers of heavy metal. They explored dark themes such as horror, the occult, war, and social chaos.
Black Sabbath is electric, powerful, raw, rebellious, anarchic, dangerous and raucous. The songs include. Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs.
The performance is dedicated to the memory of Ozzy Osbourne who died in July. There are three acts and two long intervals. The most thrilling moments are the finales when classical virtuosity is pushed into high voltage energy.
Act I: Heavy Metal Ballet, choreographed by Raul Reinoso and composed by Christoper Austin, is led by guitarist Marc Hayward and features a very long kiss.
Act II: The Band, choreographed by Cassi Abranches and composed by Sun Heting, has multiple voice-overs reminiscing, not very audibly, about Black Sabbath’s origins. The most horrific account records 17-year-old Tony Iommi losing two fingertips in a factory accident and creating two plastic tips.
Act III: Everybody is a Fan, choregraphed by Pontus Lidberg and composed by Christopher Austin, is dominated by a giant silver statue of an upturned car. Standing on it is a devil figure with huge wings. The dancers push the statue round the stage.
The high spot for many metal fans was the guest appearance of the 77-year-old legendary guitarist Iommi and only continuous member during the band’s existence for over fifty years.
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