Description

John Cranko (19271973), choreographer at Sadlers Wells ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet, collaborated with Charles Mackerras to create Pineapple Poll, a light hearted comedy. This was closely followed by a further joint effort, which resulted in another comic ballet, The Lady and the Fool. David Blair, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in the 50s and 60s, plays Captain Belaye in Pineapple Poll a role he also danced at the ballets premiere in 1951. The Lady and the Fool was reworked for Covent Garden in 1955, four years before this studio production, with Beriosova playing La Cappricciosa in the year she became Prima Ballerina at Sadlers Wells. Both these ballets are examples of rare studio performances from the BBCs earliest television archives and are released here for the first time on DVD.