A few moments after the curtain was due to open on Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT)'s The Three Musketeers, the company's Artistic Director David Nixon appeared in front of the stage to announce that composer Malcolm Arnold had died that afternoon and dedicated the evening's performance to his memory.
 | | Sir Malcolm Arnold |
Today Arnold might not be much of a household name but many of us have probably heard his music without even realising it. Before he gave up writing music for the cinema a very long time ago, he had provided the soundtrack for more than 80 feature films, winning an Oscar for The Bridge on the River Kwai. In some ways this ballet has been thirty years in the making. NBT have based their latest production on a scenario devised by Royal Ballet dancer and choreographer David Drew in the 1970s. In the course of exploring this idea Drew went to see Arnold. The music for The Three Musketeers comes from across the composer's work and includes the results of that meeting. NBT's spell-binding production provides Arnold with a fitting memorial. Sumptuous, spectacular - describing it as a theatrical experience I find myself grasping for superlatives. If, like me, you've sometimes gone along to see a dance performance and have wondered what you are supposed to be making of it all, that's certainly not the case here! Rest assured, this is not men in tights and there isn't a tutu in sight. What there is, though, is a good story told at a tremendous pace with plenty of intrigue and romance along the way. There's just so much happening on stage, and that's even before we get to the fight scenes… |
Take a look at our interview with fight director Renny Krupinski:
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As in all NBT productions the dancers use every aspect of their performance to create character. Musketeer Aramis (Hironao Takahashi) wanders around with his head in a book when he's not wielding his sword, King Louis XIII, (Kenneth Tindall) dressed as a woman has the starring role in the ballet within the ballet. The real star is of course country lad D'Artagnan (Patrick Howell makes a very convincing hero) who comes to Paris, hoping to become a musketeer and finds himself caught up in affairs of state and of the heart. Desiree Samaai conveys a sense of fragility in her role as the troubled Queen Anne while Victoria Sibson's performance as Milady Winter – spy, seducer and baddy of the piece – is full of menace as she flits on and off the stage. Keiko Amemori gives a wonderful performance in what is in some ways the meatiest role as Constance, the Queen's loyal dressmaker and D'Artagnan's lover.
 | | D'Artagnan and his Constance! |
And then there's the set…I certainly heard myself going, 'wow!' more than once and I'm sure I wasn't alone. To say much more would spoil the many surprises. But what of Arnold's music? At times I found myself thinking, 'I like that tune' or 'that reminds me of film music.' And perhaps that's the answer. Arnold has been accused of being out of tune with today's classical music but it seems right for NBT's interpretation of the story. The important thing is that all aspects of the production work well together. As the performance nears its end D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis join their swords above their heads in salute. Although no words are said it really is an "all for one and one for all" moment. The cheers and applause from the Bradford audience suggested that, as one, they judged NBT's new production to be nothing less than a triumph. The Three Musketeers is at Bradford's Alhambra Theatre until Saturday, September 30th 2006. [Northern Ballet Theatre photographer: Merlin Hendy] | 
