Pet Shop Boys write music for ballet

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, aka the Pet Shop Boys, have been making some of the world's most danceable club music for the last 25 years. Their new album, The Most Incredible Thing, which is due on March 14, will make a totally different kind of people dance. Ballet dancers.

The Most Incredible Thing was written by the duo in collaboration with choreographer Javier De Frutos and Britain's leading contemporary dance theatre, Sadler's Wells, and is based on the Hans Christian Anderson story. According to the press release, "the story is about a competition in a mythical kingdom where the King announces that whoever invents the most incredible thing will win the hand of the Princess in marriage and half of the Kingdom. What follows is creative, destructive but ultimately happy."
It was actually Lowe who came up with adapting the Anderson story for dance. They had been approached by friend and Royal Ballet principal Ivan Putrov to write a piece to which he could dance. Lowe suggested the Anderson story and the duo composed the first act in the autumn of 2008 and the balance in 2010.

Tennant and Lowe said "This is a very exciting project to be part of. In the past we have written dance music so to write music for a ballet seems like a logical development. Also we have always been fascinated by giving our music a theatrical context."

The ballet is scheduled to be performed at London's Sadler's Wells from March 17 to 26. The soundtrack is recorded by the Pet Shop Boys with the Wroc³aw Score Orchestra conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The release date of March 14 will vary slightly depending on the location.


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