The Prince of the Pagodas
The record here concerns Kenneth MacMillan's 1989 staging of The Prince of the Pagodas for the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, built on Benjamin Britten's score, which had originally been written for John Cranko's 1957 ballet of the same title for the same company. For this 1989 version the scenario was reworked by the travel writer Colin Thubron, with designs by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by John B Read.
The premiere given in the article is 7 December 1989 at the Royal Opera House, with Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope in the lead roles, and Tetsuya Kumakawa, Fiona Chadwick and Anthony Dowell also named in the original cast. The article is a credits-and-cast notice rather than a synopsis or repertory listing, so it documents who made and danced the piece without describing what any of them actually danced.
What is danced
The source article gives no description of steps, vocabulary, or set pieces at all — it lists creative credits (choreographer, scenario writer, designer, lighting designer) and the names of five original cast members, and nothing more. There is no synopsis, no act-by-act breakdown, and no musical-numbers list to draw section-level dance claims from, so none can honestly be built here.
What can be said from general knowledge of the work, clearly separate from the article: this is a full-length, three-act narrative ballet made for a classical company (the Royal Ballet) with a lead ballerina role created for Darcey Bussell, danced on pointe with extensive corps and demi-soloist ensembles — but this is recollection, not something the article states, and is flagged accordingly rather than coded into the taxonomy.
Context
The article situates this as a 1989 Royal Ballet production reworking a score Britten had written more than three decades earlier for Cranko's 1957 original, which is itself named as the basis for the new version. It does not otherwise place the work within a broader history of British ballet-making, so no further period claims can be drawn from it.
Staging history
The only staging history the article supplies is the relationship between two productions at the same house: John Cranko's 1957 original and Kenneth MacMillan's 1989 restaging, which kept Britten's music but replaced the scenario (Colin Thubron), designs (Nicholas Georgiadis) and lighting (John B Read). No later revivals, transfers, or other companies are mentioned.
How to watch it
Nothing in the article describes staging or choreographic convention, so no performance-watching guidance can be drawn from it directly; a viewer would need to consult a synopsis or programme note (not present here) to know what to look for act by act.
Credits
- composer: Benjamin Britten