John Cranko (Choreography)
John Cyril Cranko
(15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a choreographer with the Sadler's Wells
Ballet (which later became the Royal Ballet) and the Stuttgart Ballet.
Cranko was born in
Rustenburg in the former province of Transvaal, South Africa. As a child, he
would put on puppet shows as a creative outlet. Cranko received his early ballet
training in Cape Town under the leading South African ballet teacher and
director, Dulcie Howes, of the University of Cape Town Ballet School. He then
moved to London.
Following the expiration
of the copyright on Arthur Sullivan's music in 1950, John Cranko choreographed
the comic ballet Pineapple Poll, in collaboration with Charles Mackerras, for
a British Festival. Pineapple Poll was based on W. S. Gilbert's
Bab Ballad The Bumboat Woman's Story, with music exclusively by Sir
Arthur Sullivan including music from various Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. His
father, Herbert, a balletomane, spent a great deal of time with him in London.
Another collaboration with Mackerras followed with The Lady and the
Fool.
John Cranko wrote and
developed a musical revue Cranks, which opened in London in December
1955, moved to a West End theatre the following March, and ran for over 220
performances. With music by John Addison, its cast of four featured singers
Anthony Newley, Annie Ross, Hugh Bryant and dancer Gilbert Vernon then
transferred to New York. An original cast CD has recently been released. Cranko
followed the format of Cranks with a new revue New Cranks opening
at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith on 26 April 1960 with music by David Lee and a
stellar cast including Gillian Lynne, Carole Shelley and Bernard Cribbins, but
it failed to have the same impact.
Cranko also choreographed
the ballet Onegin, an adaptation of the verse novel Eugene Onegin by
Alexander Pushkin set to music by Tchaikovsky (mainly The Seasons)
orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. Other full length ballets he choreographed
are Romeo and Juliet, set to music by Prokofiev and The Taming of the
Shrew.
Cranko choked to death
after suffering an allergic reaction to a sleeping pill he took during a
transatlantic flight. His mother, Grace, who was divorced from Herbert and lived
in what was then Rhodesia, heard about his death from a radio broadcast. The
ballet Voluntaries by Glen Tetley was created in the memory of John
Cranko.
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