'The Most Incredible Thing' at Sadler's Wells

Last Thursday we went to see the first ever public performance of 'The Most Incredible Thing' by the Pet Shop Boys and Javier de Frutos at Sadler's Wells. It's a new ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen's story of the same name in which the King offers half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever comes up with the most incredible thing.

It's a show of three halves with two intervals. The first half introduces us to the kingdom and the characters with loud thumping electrobeats opening the show and reappearing every now and then with some slower, more romantic music for the princess and our hero to dance to as they fall in love. It included the rather odd device of including a talent show in which people attempted to demonstrate the most incredible thing. The second half was an extended visual extravaganza while we saw the most incredible thing demonstrated. The third half saw the baddie steal the thing, marry the princess and imprison our hero and then all was put right again and the lovers wed.

Since it was the first night then I assume there'll be changes and improvements. The producer walked on stage at the start to say that if anything didn't work they'd stop the show and start again but, luckily, that wasn't needed. I liked the staging, I liked the scenery and costumes, I liked most of the music (not too keen on slow PSB songs). The only bit I didn't really get was the whole of the second half which was dedicated to the extravaganza viewing of the most incredible thing through a clock. It reminded me of the musical interlude section of a Madonna concert, where there's great video effects and every now and then a few dancers appear. I looked on thinking, 'wow, that's spectacular' but it didn't really go anywhere or add to the story.

Still, I enjoyed the show and it was nice to be there for the first ever performance. At the start of the third half I noticed that Neil Tennant was sitting at the end of the row in front of our seats. At the end, after the bows from the stage, he got his own ovation as he stood up to leave, which was nice. The CD of the music was also released that day so it'll be interesting to listen to it with the spectacle in front of me.