Review: BLACK SABBATH - THE BALLET, Sadler’s Wells - Tour
Photo credit: Johan Persson
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Black Sabbath – The Ballet is bringing some fire to Sadler’s Wells this October. It also arrives as a timely celebration of the late Ozzy Osbourne, the unmistakable frontman of Black Sabbath. Although slightly unorthodox, it works as a send-off to one of rock’s greatest legends, no matter your music taste. However, more than anything, it feels like a Brummie homecoming, a tribute to Birmingham’s own rock legends from another local, which reminds us how, despite our differences, music has the power to unite.
Conceived by Artistic Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet Carlos Acosta, this ambitious work returns as a bold collaboration between three choreographers and three composers led by Pontus Lidberg and Christopher Austin, with dramaturgy by Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer: The Opera) and is performed live by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. This latest staging of the work follows a sold-out premiere in 2023 and international tours through 2024 and 2025.
Its appeal is in its intention to find the meeting point between two worlds, ballet and heavy metal. However, this intersection is only partially achieved. It doesn’t quite capture the full darkness and rawness of the band’s sound, but does open an exciting door as it dares to ask how genres can collide.
Broken up into three acts, it is a long evening but nicely spread out. Act I, titled Heavy Metal Ballet, is choreographed by Raúl Reinoso and incorporates iconic songs including ‘War Pigs’, ‘Solitude’, and ‘Paranoid’. As the opening act, it builds the atmosphere of Sabbath’s world, establishing its tone and grit, yet doesn’t quite capture the rebellious energy that fuels the band’s spirit. It’s danced well but the attitude beneath the movement feels held back. A striking pas de deux, danced by Yaoqian Shang and Javier Rojas, offers a glimpse into the emotional tenderness within rock and it’s here that the piece briefly finds depth. The energy lifts toward the end of Act I, becoming exciting and alive. You can’t help but wonder: what if the show had started there?
Act II, The Band, choreographed by Cassi Abranches, incorporates the songs; ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘Orchid’, ‘Planet Caravan’ and ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’, shifts the tone. Using a verbatim-theatre convention, it incorporates real interviews with the band and Sharon Osbourne, grounding the production in working-class Birmingham and the human relationships at its core. The effect is part documentary, part dance theatre. Watching the dancers interpret these stories through movement allows the audience to listen, reflect, and connect in a more abstract way.
Act III, the final act, titled Everybody Is a Fan, with choreography by Pontus Lidberg, is where concept and feeling more authentically meet. “Everybody is a fan” becomes not just a statement but a shared experience, embodying the collective joy and spirituality of rock and roll through technically proficient movement, an inner life and connection to the musicality in a more exciting and honest way. There is even a cameo from Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s legendary guitarist and co-founder, which sends the crowd into elation. With Queen’s Brian May also spotted watching from the audience, it’s fair to say this was one hell of an attendance for a ballet!
Black Sabbath – The Ballet may not fully synthesise metal’s darkness with ballet’s form, but it reaches for something new. It dares to imagine what happens when worlds collide, and that ambition alone deserves the standing ovation it received.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Stephanie Osztreicher
