Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Black Sabbath Review | The Lowry | Manchester
- Frances
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s three-pronged approach to Black Sabbath showcases a trifecta of distinct choreography, staging and live orchestration to merge the band’s work into a new genre.
Choreographers, Raúl Reinoso, Cassi Abranches and Pontus Lidberg each take on an act, playing into the origins, spectacle and power of the group. Their three salutes to the heavy metal pioneers don’t carry a uniform story thread between them, but the show is shaped to deliver a risk-taking experience. Inspired by Ozzy Osbourne’s stage presence and the group’s unmatched originality, the production is not as piercing as a Sabbath album, but this glossy remodel still results in a bold ballet.
The misty aesthetics of Reinoso’s first act, Heavy Metal Ballet utilise mechanical choreography to sync its cast together as cogs in a machine. Showcasing the bands hometown of Birmingham and its industrial roots, the opening song War Pigs echoes its anti-war theme. Reinos’s also plays with religious iconography to infuse a cultish undercurrent to the band. But the story swiftly breaks out of its robotic box to offer a romantic and mythic shift, featuring an impressive kissing duet and smouldering choreography between Yaoqian Shang and Javier Rojas. Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi acts as music consultant, which sees the show’s orchestral arrangements of Iron Man, Paranoid and Solitude blend rage and fury with beautifully lyrical choreography.
As a result of the mixed themes, sampled songs and nonexistent story, the production offers more of a ballet concert. Moving from moshing ballerinas and air guitars to sweeping lifts and lovingly connected duets. This is all backed by the reappearing live guitarist Marc Hayward, who makes a riffing appearance in each act and is successfully there to get the crowd pumped.
The second act, The Band utilises voiceover from Sharon Osbourne, interviews from the bat-biting Ozzy and commentary from Iommi to reflect on the group’s resilience and lasting influence. Dramaturg Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer, The Opera) helps pieces together an intimate act that explores how the band came from humble beginnings and dealt with fame. Touching on their rifts, drug abuse and personal hurdles outside of the group, which include Iommi losing his fingers to a metal press at work.
The final act, Everybody is a Fan by Lidberg is a demon-adorned performance that makes use of its full ensemble. With stomping stadium-styled choreography, Birmingham Royal immerse the Lowry audience with the spirit of a rock concert. It takes awhile for the cast to match the set’s backdrop of a flipped vintage car with a demon on top, but they eventually build and stomp their way to an entertaining finale.
Offering a streamlined introduction into Black Sabbath, the show feels like a loving tribute to the band and the original frontman who passed away July of this year. But considering the Ozzy quote “f&@£ flower power” is included in the second act, it is surprising how delicate and gentle much of the choreography is throughout the entire show. New arrangements of the band's hits War Pigs, Paranoid and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are softened, but Hayward’s presence fills the room and radiates energy.
Birmingham Royal’s Black Sabbath Ballet is an irresistible pairing that offers a refreshed Sabbath score with an absorbing production of restrained rock. Metal heads may miss Ozzy’s tortured screams, but Iommi guitar riffs are aplenty and it is clear the band’s fingerprints are all over this sleek and enjoyable reimagining.
Tickets are available via the Lowry link