Miracle in the Gorbals
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Miracle in the Gorbals (1944) is a one-act ballet choreographed by Robert Helpmann to a story by Michael Benthall, with music by Arthur Bliss. The setting is the 1940s slums in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. It became a staple of the Royal Ballet, performed each season from 1944 to 1950 and receiving a revival in 1958.
The idea for the scenario for Miracle in the Gorbals came to Michael Benthall while he was working on a gun site in Glasgow. He worked on a detailed story and the characters, discussing the action with dancer and choreographer Robert Helpmann. The next collaborator to be identified was the designer, Edward Burra.[1] The composer Arthur Bliss set to work on the score, with scenario and initial designs before him.[2] The Royal Ballet performed the ballet every season from 1944 to 1950 and revived it in 1958,[3] but it did not perform it in Glasgow itself when touring Scotland in 1945.[2] They also performed the ballet in Paris.[3]
Bliss wrote the music in 1943 after his return from the United States. He created a concert suite from the ballet music, choosing seven of the fifteen numbers in the ballet, as well as the overture (The Street, The Girl Suicide, The Young Lovers, The Stranger, Dance of Deliverance, Intermezzo, Finale: The Killing of the Stranger).[4]
Thanks to the efforts of David Drew[citation needed], a dancer with the Royal Ballet for over 50 years, the ballet was revived in 2014 by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, under the direction of Gillian Lynne, a member of the original cast.
Original cast
The ballet was first produced by the Sadler's Wells Ballet at the Prince's Theatre in London on Thursday, 26 October 1944. The choreography was by Robert Helpmann, who danced the lead role of the Stranger, and the music was conducted by Constant Lambert. The first cast was:
- Pauline Clayden (The Suicide)
- Moira Shearer and Alexis Rassine (The Lovers)
- Leslie Edwards (A Beggar)
- Gordon Hamilton (A Street Urchin)
- David Paltenghi (The Official)
- Celia Franca (The Prostitute)
- Robert Helpmann (The Stranger)
The corps (residents of the Gorbals) included Julia Farron, Moyra Fraser, Gerd Larsen, Gillian Lynne and Stanley Holden.[2]
