Latest news with #Quadrophenia
BBC News
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia mod ballet on tour
Musician Pete Townshend says he believes a new ballet version of his rock opera Quadrophenia will "resonate with new audiences".The co-founder of The Who is backing Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet – based on his own music and the subsequent film about mods and rockers clashing in 1960s ballet, which had its premiere in Plymouth, is touring venues around the UK in June and told BBC South East that he thought the story of rebellion and youth culture would make a "powerfully rhythmic and emotionally engaging ballet". "The themes of young people growing up in difficult times are still so relevant," he said."It's going to be tender, poignant, poetic and epic."More than 1,000 youths fought each other between 16 and 18 May 1964 in Brighton, in scenes which were later immortalised in rock opera was released in 1973, and the 1979 film, starring Sting, Ray Winstone, Phil Daniels, Toyah Willcox and Leslie Ash was set around the East Sussex added: "Brighton has always been something special. It has a great history all of its own." The orchestration for the production was written by Townshend's wife Rachel said: "When I've written rock operas, I've always felt they were there to be exploited and changed."This ballet went into workshop with Sadler's Wells and it has landed really well. I was deeply touched by it."We're bringing rock music ethics into the ballet world." The ballet is backed by instrumental music recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra."It was amazing to see people working with my music who were so young," Townshend added."This is a different take on the perennial story of a young man struggling in life to find meaning."Quadrophenia really is my baby and I'm so pleased what we managed to achieve with it."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Singer and Strictly star heading to Dudley for intimate evening
TWO renowned singers have announced they will be stopping off in Dudley for two intimate shows, getting up close and personal with fans. Huey Morgan – frontman of Fun Lovin' Criminals and host of The Huey Show on BBC Radio 6 – will bring his show, The Fun Lovin' Criminal: An Evening of Music and Conversation, to Dudley Town Hall in 2026. Coming to prominence as a driving force of the eclectic American Rap/Rock outfit Fun Lovin' Criminals, Morgan led the band from 1993 untill 2021, best known for their hit record Scooby Snacks. As host of The Huey Show on BBC Radio 6 since 2008, Morgan is a cherished voice on national radio in the UK, where he hosts a mix of Hip Hop, Soul, Punk, Funk, Rock and everything in between for his listeners. Fans will be able to get "up close and personal" with Huey on Friday, April 10, next year. Meanwhile, Toyah – dubbed the High Priestess of Punk – is also to bring her show, Songs and Stories, to Stourbridge Town Hall in 2026. A singer and actor, a TV host and author, a BRIT Award winner and recently a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing - Toyah has worn many hats during a remarkable career spanning more than 50 years. Her role in Quadrophenia made her a household name and, soon after, she gate-crashed the charts with It's A Mystery, I Want To Be Free, and Thunder In The Mountains, as the album, Anthem, earned a gold disc, and BRIT Award Best Female as well as a BRIT Nomination for British Breakthrough Act. The "intimate" show will feature hit songs and stories from a showbiz career spanning over half a century and will be hitting the stage of Stourbridge on Friday, May 1, 2026. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Pete Townshend remakes Quadrophenia for a new generation: ‘The world is a dangerous place at the moment'
Deckchairs fly, arms clash, bodies launch into the air as mods and rockers engage in a fierce Brighton seafront battle. But in this east London dance studio – with Zaha Hadid's Olympic swimming pool visible through the window – young performers in sports socks, joggers and baggy T-shirts are reimagining the Who's seminal document of the mid-60s Quadrophenia as ballet. Isn't this 1973 album an unlikely subject for dance? We've recently had Black Sabbath: The Ballet, and Message in a Bottle set to Sting, so why not? After all, Quadrophenia is theatrical at its roots. 'The closest thing to a grand opera I'll ever write,' says the Who's guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. Set in 1965, the story of disaffected young mod Jimmy looking for meaning in life via music, amphetamines and aspirational tailoring became a cult 1979 film starring Phil Daniels, but a more recent incarnation was Classic Quadrophenia, a symphonic version of the album for orchestra and tenor Alfie Boe. It was when Townshend heard the instrumental version, orchestrated by the musician Rachel Fuller (also Townshend's wife) that he said to her: 'I think this would make a lovely ballet.' A few years on, Fuller was composing a children's ballet and met ex-Royal Ballet dancer Natalie Harrison; together a plan was hatched (Harrison is creative producer on the project). The person whose job it became to turn this much-loved piece of pop culture into dance, however, had barely heard of Quadrophenia. 'I knew the film poster,' says Paul Roberts, a choreographer who has worked with Harry Styles, Spice Girls and numerous other pop luminaries. But the team quickly started workshopping ideas, drawing on classical, contemporary and commercial dance, and brought in Tony-, Emmy- and Olivier-winning director Rob Ashford, to help shape what Townshend calls 'a compressed vision of what a lot of young men go through in their late teens and early 20s. This young guy who is bereft and lacks deep friendships and support and yet he feels part of this mod gang.' It is 60 years since the famous beachfront clash, ancient history for the dancers who are in their 20s, such as Paris Fitzpatrick, 29, who plays Jimmy. Unlike the directionless Jimmy, Fitzpatrick has been training at performing arts school since the age of 12 and gone on to an award-winning dance career. Can he relate to these characters? 'Disillusionment? We can all relate, I think,' he says. 'Being a bit lost, the search for meaning, I've experienced a lot of that.' Harrison tells me that in discussions in the studio, the young cast ended up making parallels with TV series Adolescence, 'the anger, confusion of being a young man, needing to belong'. Down the corridor in the costume room, it turns out one thing the dancers are having trouble relating to is the tightness of the suits. 'They normally wear triple XL,' laughs associate costume designer Natalie Pryce, amid the racks of Paul Smith shirts, vintage finds, polo shirts and parkas. Smith has designed the costumes, and Pryce and costume stylist Hannah Teare are putting together the wardrobe and adjusting garments for the needs of dancers. That means adding gussets under the arms and in the slim-cut trousers, accommodating dancers' muscular thighs. Vintage suits have 'no bounce', says Teare, no stretch in the fabric. They also have to double up on some items to take into account all the inevitable sweat. 'You've got to allow for the first previews and press night, where everyone's a bit more nervous,' says Pryce. Then you've got to get the details right, the correct width of lapel (narrow) and collar style (dagger), the kind of things that might pass some by 'but a mod would know that another guy passing on the street was a mod', says Teare. There are hairstyles to think about, too. A lot of the boys are reluctant to grow out their fades, says Pryce, but others are getting in the spirit. (And since there's an Oasis reunion about to happen, they might find themselves at the height of fashion.) 'The look was the manifesto,' says Townshend of the mod movement. And the suits, in fact, were instrumental in shaping the actual dancing the mods did in the 60s ('Pete got up and showed us some moves,' says Roberts. 'There's one where he flicks his leg out, we've stolen that.') 'Because they invested so much into what they were wearing, it's very poised, very collected, super minimal,' Roberts demonstrates a subtle groove. 'You want to keep your tie straight, your shirt tails tucked in,' adds Ashford, and God forbid you mess up your hair. But there was an edge, a sense of the caged animal about it. The energy inside that composure was 'scruffy and hectic', says Roberts, 'wild and messy energy contained in a sort of box of self-consciousness' is how Fitzpatrick puts it. 'About as far from classical ballet as you can get.' Everyone on the production raves about Fitzpatrick as Jimmy (he's best known for dancing the lead in Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet). 'He has this fragility, this rawness to him,' says Roberts. It's the lost boy look in his deep brown eyes. In the show, four other dancers embody the four facets of Jimmy's personality that he's grappling with – the Romantic, the Hypocrite, the Tough Guy, the Lunatic – trying to make sense of who he is. Also recently added to the cast is Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball, as Godfather. Harrison tells me she was watching him in rehearsal leaping around the room. 'It was electric,' she says. 'You know how suddenly the stars align? It was like Pete's guitar playing happening as a full-body experience.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Fuller has written the scenario based on Townshend's original liner notes (rather than a rehash of the film) and without lyrics or text; making sure the storytelling is clear was paramount for her: 'I've been to a few dance things, and I'm like: this is great but I've literally got no idea what's going on.' Never being much of a dance person in the past, 'what surprised me is that I've been able to make a real connection with it,' she says. Townshend already liked dance. 'I'm a big fan of ballet. I go quite a lot,' he says. He talks about a scene between Jimmy's troubled parents. 'When they move together it's absolutely powerful and poignant. You couldn't do it with words.' When Townshend first saw some of the movement Roberts had made to his music, 'I was struck by the fact that I was being drawn back to my mid-20s by these boys, who had a physical way of expressing the missing lyrics. It felt like it was drawn from deep inside these young dancers. And I found it incredibly moving.' The 1960s was a different world, the inheritance of the postwar generation and the heralding of huge social change. 'But it became clear there was a link between the kids that I grew up with and the similar issues, frustrations, difficulties that young men are facing today,' says Townshend. 'The world is in a dangerous place at the moment.' Fuller was determined that the ballet shouldn't be set in the modern day, but in a way, says Townshend, that's what's happening. 'It's being brought into the modern day by the dancers. There are a couple of times when I've had tears in my eyes,' he says. 'And that's not because I'm listening to my own music,' he smiles, 'it's because it feels like it belongs to this new gang.' There's so much mythology around the mod movement. 'The most dramatic pictures taken in the beach fights? The press set it up,' says Townshend. 'Got a couple of rockers to jump off [the prom]. And according to a few of my mates from the day, they were paid 10 quid to smash up some deckchairs. Most of the mods didn't want to muck up their clothes fighting.' And the movement itself was transitory. 'It was very, very strong and very, very powerful when it was there,' says Townshend. 'But it only lasted about two and a half years.' Quadrophenia, by contrast, is still thriving. Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet is at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Wednesday to 1 June; touring to 19 July.
Scotsman
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Rachel Fuller on creating the soundtrack for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet: 'the whole thing has felt magical'
Rachel Fuller's moment of epiphany came when she wrote a children's ballet during lockdown, she tells Fiona Shepherd Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When Pete Townsend originally wrote Quadrophenia in the early 1970s, he heard the music in his head as a fully orchestrated suite. Unable to read music, he used the (superb) instruments at this disposal – Keith Moon's drums, John Entwistle's bass, Roger Daltrey's voice and his own guitar - to convey his vision. In 2015, the iconic 'mod opera' was finally reinvented as Classic Quadrophenia, an album and concert tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and singers Alfie Boe and Billy Idol, with arrangements by Townsend's wife, the composer Rachel Fuller. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rachel Fuller and Pete Townsend pictured at the 77th Tony Awards in New York, 16 June 2024 | AFP via Getty Images 'I stayed really faithful to the original format,' says Fuller. 'I tried to arrange in a way that I felt Pete would do, so I didn't change keys or mess around with the melodic lines. Often I would listen to John Entwistle's bassline and I would score the double basses exactly to what he was playing.' The roots of Quadrophenia's latest rebirth came when Townsend first heard Fuller's instrumental demos and remarked that the score would make a great ballet soundtrack. 'I'd never been to the ballet,' says Fuller. 'It was not something I particularly connected with. I don't have a graceful bone in my body.' Fuller's classical dance epiphany came when she wrote a children's ballet called Bee in lockdown. Armed with contacts in the field and a new appreciation of the form, she picked up on Townsend's original impulse, repurposing her orchestral arrangement without vocals to produce the soundtrack for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet. Pete Townshend of The Who on stage at Granby Hall, Leicester, 18 October 1975 | Getty Images Fuller hopes it will resonate with ballet and non-ballet fans alike. 'I think the story of a teenage boy who's struggling with identity, with sense of self, with belonging, with fitting in, it's a universal story that people are going to connect with, especially young men who are going through a similar thing.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fuller has her own affinity with the theme of not fitting in, having only recently been diagnosed with ADHD after a childhood of being 'seen as a fidgety girl who talked too much and found it hard to focus and pay attention. As a result of that I internalised everything and ended up with chronic anxiety by the age of ten.' Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who perform at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey on 10 September 1979. | Getty Images Fuller found respite in music, forging a career mainly as a composer and arranger. She also released an album of her own songs in 2004 but feels she has put her singer/songwriter days to bed. 'My voice doesn't match up with my personality,' she says. 'In person, I'm quite loud and vulgar, but when I sing I sound like a nun. Maybe because my brain is wired slightly differently and I think outside the box it's particularly suited to composing and arranging orchestras so I think it's been part of my creative journey.' As for her work on Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, she says 'the whole thing has felt magical. Our hope is that people have a good night out, that they can put their life on a hook and be present and have their soul moved. People can sing along – I'm hoping they won't, but inside they might!' Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet is at Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10-14 June Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This feature was produced in association with Capital Theatres WIN: £400 PAUL SMITH PRIZE DRAW WITH HARVEY NICHOLS Everyone who buys a ticket for Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet at the Festival Theatre will be entered into a prize draw to win £400 credit and a Personal Shopping experience in Paul Smith at Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh, see
Scotsman
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Rob Ashford on directing Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet: 'the dancers loved it'
Turning The Who's iconic album into a stage show has required a complex marriage of dance and theatre, director Rob Ashford tells Kelly Apter Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Pitched battles on Brighton seafront, amorous exchanges in alleyways and fleets of motorcycles and scooters hurtling along the streets. Faced with such scenes, it's unlikely cinema-goers watching Quadrophenia in 1979 thought to themselves 'this will make a great ballet one day.' A coming together of The Who's album - released in 1973 and turned into a cult film six years later - and dance may seem unlikely. But this iconic tale of Mods and Rockers, filled with suited and booted passion and violence, is ripe for adaptation. Dance has the power to distill a mood, capture an atmosphere and convey emotion. Plus, who better to carry off the stylish attire and youthful energy of this British subculture than a group of highly trained dancers? Rehearsals for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet | Rich Lakos For Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet to do the story justice, however, it needed more than one pair of safe hands. A choreographer, of course, to create the steps (the very talented Paul Roberts, whose lengthy CV features the BalletBoyz, One Direction and the Olympics opening ceremony), but also a director. Rarely do dance productions have the budget for both roles, although it always pays dividends. But to capture the complex relationships, teen angst, and cultural zeitgeist of Quadrophenia, it was essential. It also helped that the show's director, Rob Ashford has previously worked as a choreographer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I think it gave us a nice shared language and made for a quicker and easier collaboration,' he says. 'I love the choreography and think Paul has done a beautiful job with it. But as well as sharing the workload, we also had a different focus. As the steps were being made, and Paul and the dancers were working hard, I was only thinking about what that movement meant to the story. The acting isn't an overlay that we tried to put on top once all the choreography was done, it was a main ingredient not an afterthought. And I'm happy to report that the dancers loved it - they want more of it because it's new to them.' Pete Townshend (centre) with the cast of Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet | Photo Johan Persson For both Roberts and Ashford, having Who co-founder Pete Townsend heavily involved in the project ensured his vision for the ballet remained central. 'We all talked about this being a dance theatre piece, and Pete has been very specific about the story,' explains Ashford. 'He wrote a script to go along with his liner notes from the original album, explaining what he was thinking and why created what he did.' Even so, Ashford had his work cut out portraying some of the more conversational elements of the storyline. Large-scale fight scenes, dancing in night clubs and romantic interludes all lend themselves perfectly to dance. Less so the interactions between lead character Jimmy and the adults in his life, which are pivotal to the audience's understanding of who this young man is. 'The characters of Jimmy's mother and father play into this story very strongly,' says Ashford, 'and we wanted to get into their psyche to understand how it affects Jimmy. So we've given a lot of time to their stalled marriage and lost dreams, and that post-war, working class idea that what you have is enough. But the reason young Mods dressed up and wore suits is they were aspiring to more. They didn't want to be like their parents who were, in their minds, just settling. There's a scene in the factory, for example, where the movement is very routine because that's what life was like. It's what Jimmy's father does and what Jimmy is expected to do, but he rebels against it.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Director Rob Ashford in rehearsals for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet | Rich Lakos A new orchestral version of The Who's album, recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is the musical backdrop to all this action. And that crucial element of Mods and Rockers culture, fashion, comes courtesy of costumes designed by Paul Smith. Beneath the surface, though, Ashford believes these two seemingly disparate youth groups were more alike than they might have believed at the time. 'The different physicality of the two groups is something Paul has worked on and is part of the choreography,' says Ashford. 'But what I like is that through all the bluster and posturing, when they get into the scrum, they're all the same - they're just kids. They're all young people who are trying to matter, to be unique, to escape the past and move forward.' Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet in rehearsal | Rich Lakos One such kid is Steph, made famous by Lesley Ash in the film and here known as 'Mod Girl'. As one of the first dancers to play the role, Falkirk-born dancer Serena McCall found having both a choreographer and director at the helm was a huge boon. 'Rob and Paul are a dream team and I pinch myself I get to work with them,' she says. 'They've both really helped me figure out my character. Paul has a clear vision for each role and what type of movement they will dance in the show. And Rob is a genius, the way he creates a narrative and then brings it to life is just amazing. We've talked a lot about why my character is doing something and what the motive is behind a particular step.' Embodying a character that's steeped in gang culture comes with all the thrill and none of the danger. Both Ashford and McCall describe the Quadrophenia company as 'a little family' off-stage, but according to McCall as soon as the music starts, the rivalry begins. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's a complete adrenaline rush,' she says. 'There's a true gang dynamic and we're all there for one another. When we split off into the Mods and Rockers for the fight on Brighton Beach, that scene is chaos but it's good chaos. It's so exciting and you really feel like you're part of something. I'm a Mod in the show, so I look at all the other mods and we all have each other's backs. If someone's coming for me, they'll immediately come and help me, and it's the same with the Rockers.' Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet is at Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10-14 June This feature was produced in association with Capital Theatres WIN: £400 PAUL SMITH PRIZE DRAW WITH HARVEY NICHOLS Everyone who buys a ticket for Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet at the Festival Theatre will be entered into a prize draw to win £400 credit and a Personal Shopping experience in Paul Smith at Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh, see Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
