Internationally acclaimed ballet legend Viviana Durante will present the world premiere of a brand-new production at Wilton’s Music Hall this May; a re-staging of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s extraordinary version of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Seven Deadly Sins.
The production stars provocative performer Meow Meow, whose ‘astonishing’ (The Telegraph) voice has seen her acclaimed internationally as one of the world’s great stage performers and Royal Ballet principal Laura Morera whose ‘rare and exquisite musicality’ (Culture Whisper) has been lauded across the ballet world, as the two conflicting sides of Anna, an only daughter who is sent out by her family to make their fortune, making her way through seven American cities. Meow Meow portrays the singing Anna, the pragmatic bourgeois, while Laura Morera will take on the role of the dancing Anna, an artistic beauty with an open heart.
Anna and her two very different personalities must navigate each city, encountering a deadly sin in each one that stands in the way of her success. The tale follows the internal struggle she faces with each sin, envying those who surrender to them but forced to resist so she can complete her mission.
A once-in-a-generation revival, Seven Deadly Sins is directed by Viviana Durante and developed in close association with Deborah MacMillan, drawing on extensive research into her late husband Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s three previous versions of the ballet chanté, the last of which was staged for television in 1984. Alongside Meow Meow and Laura Morera, this production will also be brought to life by a cast of 20 singers, dancers and guest Royal Ballet principals, in the visually stunning and intimate surroundings of the oldest working music hall in the world, Wilton’s.
Viviana Durante Company was founded to bring ground-breaking, impactful classical ballet to a diverse audience. Its most recent production was Kenneth MacMillan: Steps Back In Time at the Barbican Pit in spring 2018, which received international acclaim.
Viviana Durante says: ‘I’m proud to restore this remarkable work to the stage, working closely with Deborah MacMillan and the extraordinary Meow Meow, and with Wilton’s to bring ballet to places it doesn’t often reach.’
