It's sad knowing there will be no more Black Sabbath reunion runs after Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement from touring earlier this year, but watching a ballet ensemble dance to a soundtrack of the heavy favourites' music might be the next best thing.
Rehearsals are officially underway for Black Sabbath – The Ballet, a production from the Birmingham Royal Ballet and artistic director Carlos Acosta set to be staged in London, Plymouth and the heavy metal pioneers' home city later this year.
Billed as "the first true heavy metal ballet experience," the production is said to feature "thrilling dance and original Black Sabbath recordings ... alongside full orchestrations of their work ... and original new orchestral compositions inspired by the sound of metal — all performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia."
What's more, the Royal Ballet says, "Black Sabbath themselves have been closely involved in developing this unique collaboration." In particular, guitarist Tony Iommi has reportedly been attending rehearsals and working on the musical side of things with composer Christopher Austin — one of three composers involved with the production.
Asked by Birmingham World if he could ever have imagined that half a century on from pioneering a genre, his home city's ballet company would be dancing to his group's creations, Iommi shared, "I wouldn't have believed them, really, to be honest. At the time when I got involved with BLACK SABBATH, I thought it was great, because it was something so different, and hasn't been done before. And I found it, I think, a good challenge."
"I'm looking at our music differently now with [the ballet], because it is being interpreted in a different way," the guitarist continued. "It's still got the basic things, but then it did have the different orchestral things coming in. And then I never thought for a minute we would have people dancing to Black Sabbath and 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man.' But here we are, you know."
Beloved Black Sabbath hymnals heard in the production include [via Blabbermouth] "Iron Man," "War Pigs" and the title track from 1970's Paranoid, the ominous, eponymous opener of their self-titled 1970 debut, "Solitude" and "Orchid" from 1971's Master of Reality, "Laguna Sunrise" from 1972's Vol. 4 and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" from the 1973 LP of the same name.
"Birmingham Royal Ballet are very conscious of the work being what it is — the Sabbath music. We don't want to change it so you can't recognize it," Iommi offered of the new orchestration. "So they've held that part of it, but added another dimension to it. So I was very happy with that."
Asked if the dance production could lead headbangers to appreciate ballet, and vice-versa, Iommi expressed, "I certainly hope so. I mean, it is a strange combination, but you've got to push the boat out. And, you know, hopefully, we can get everybody together. But they're opposite but they're not at the same time — because it's still creative. They're creating what they're doing. We're creating what we've done, and we're bringing them together. And I think it'd be really interesting to see the Sabbath fans and then to see the ballet fans liking it, hopefully."
You can find further Black Sabbath — The Ballet performance details via the Birmingham Royal Ballet's official website.
At the top of 2023, Iommi teased a new solo album — which would be his first since 2000 — and further expanded Black Sabbath reissues.
Black Sabbath's final Canadian performance came August 29, 2016, at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre. Read Exclaim!'s review of the concert.
Rehearsals are officially underway for Black Sabbath – The Ballet, a production from the Birmingham Royal Ballet and artistic director Carlos Acosta set to be staged in London, Plymouth and the heavy metal pioneers' home city later this year.
Billed as "the first true heavy metal ballet experience," the production is said to feature "thrilling dance and original Black Sabbath recordings ... alongside full orchestrations of their work ... and original new orchestral compositions inspired by the sound of metal — all performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia."
What's more, the Royal Ballet says, "Black Sabbath themselves have been closely involved in developing this unique collaboration." In particular, guitarist Tony Iommi has reportedly been attending rehearsals and working on the musical side of things with composer Christopher Austin — one of three composers involved with the production.
Asked by Birmingham World if he could ever have imagined that half a century on from pioneering a genre, his home city's ballet company would be dancing to his group's creations, Iommi shared, "I wouldn't have believed them, really, to be honest. At the time when I got involved with BLACK SABBATH, I thought it was great, because it was something so different, and hasn't been done before. And I found it, I think, a good challenge."
"I'm looking at our music differently now with [the ballet], because it is being interpreted in a different way," the guitarist continued. "It's still got the basic things, but then it did have the different orchestral things coming in. And then I never thought for a minute we would have people dancing to Black Sabbath and 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man.' But here we are, you know."
Beloved Black Sabbath hymnals heard in the production include [via Blabbermouth] "Iron Man," "War Pigs" and the title track from 1970's Paranoid, the ominous, eponymous opener of their self-titled 1970 debut, "Solitude" and "Orchid" from 1971's Master of Reality, "Laguna Sunrise" from 1972's Vol. 4 and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" from the 1973 LP of the same name.
"Birmingham Royal Ballet are very conscious of the work being what it is — the Sabbath music. We don't want to change it so you can't recognize it," Iommi offered of the new orchestration. "So they've held that part of it, but added another dimension to it. So I was very happy with that."
Asked if the dance production could lead headbangers to appreciate ballet, and vice-versa, Iommi expressed, "I certainly hope so. I mean, it is a strange combination, but you've got to push the boat out. And, you know, hopefully, we can get everybody together. But they're opposite but they're not at the same time — because it's still creative. They're creating what they're doing. We're creating what we've done, and we're bringing them together. And I think it'd be really interesting to see the Sabbath fans and then to see the ballet fans liking it, hopefully."
You can find further Black Sabbath — The Ballet performance details via the Birmingham Royal Ballet's official website.
At the top of 2023, Iommi teased a new solo album — which would be his first since 2000 — and further expanded Black Sabbath reissues.
Black Sabbath's final Canadian performance came August 29, 2016, at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre. Read Exclaim!'s review of the concert.
