Sir Paul McCartney has confessed he is “quietly confident and nervous” ahead of Thursday’s world premiere of his first ever ballet in New York.
The 69-year-old pop icon spoke to The (London) Times before the gala performance of “Ocean’s Kingdom” at New York City’s Ballet on Thursday night, for which he has composed the score.
Costumes for the much-anticipated production have been designed by his daughter, Stella.
“We’ve done the best we can do, so we can do no more,” the former Beatle said. “We’ve all put a lot of work into it. I’ll be a bit nervous but I think that’s a good thing.”
“Ocean’s Kingdom,” choreographed by Peter Martins, the New York City Ballet’s ballet master in chief, is a romance set in a royal undersea court and a magical forest.
McCartney made headlines with a romantic tale of his own earlier this month when it emerged he is preparing to get married for a third time, to New Yorker fiancee Nancy Shevell.
“I met Peter at a reception for the NYC Ballet that Nancy and I attended and in conversation with him he asked if I had ever considered writing anything for ballet,” McCartney said. “I said that I hadn’t but would be excited to think about it because I am always interested in new directions that I haven’t worked in before. I have done a few orchestral pieces and really enjoyed working with an orchestra.
“When I started to see more dance and ballet I was influenced by that and started to write more music that I thought would be good to dance to; specifically writing expressive music that dancers could get hold of and do something with — it has been a very exciting process.”
The rocker admitted that he “didn’t know much about ballet until this project came along.”
“I’d seen the great traditional ballets like ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Nutcracker,’ but I had a very limited knowledge of ballet. But since this project I’ve obviously started to take notice — I went to see ‘Giselle’ recently in London and was bowled over by the sheer athleticism of the dancers. The next day I tried to do one of the steps and failed dismally.”