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McCartney ballet panned by critics

Written by . Published: September 25 2011

Sir Paul McCartney has failed to impress critics with the premiere of his first ever ballet, with reviewers branding the show "forgettable" and "bland".


The Beatles legend has ventured into the world of ballet by writing the score for Ocean's Kingdom for the New York City Ballet.

But, after the curtain went up on Thursday night (22Sep11), early reviews for the 50-minute show have been less than favourable.

A critic for the New York Times calls McCartney's score "never less than agreeable", but "in no way an important addition to the corpus of ballet music", before adding: "Ocean's Kingdom isn't offensive: it's just harmless, forgettable, bland, thin and occasionally incompetent."

A Los Angeles Times reviewer branded McCartney's score a "competent Hollywood soundtrack to fairy-tale themed film", while a writer for Britain's The Telegraph noted, "As the lights dimmed and the dancing started, it was clear that the performance was ballet for beginners."

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