David Bintley’s love of jazz has surfaced several times during the decade that he’s been in charge of Birmingham Royal Ballet. His first Duke Ellington ballet Nutcracker Sweeties is a joy. His Shakespeare Suite, again to Ellington, is more helter-skelter hit and miss. Now he’s moved on to Dave Brubeck with Take Five, the first jazz instrumental to sell a million copies.

Take Five, the ballet, had its premiere in Truro as part of BRB’s annual summer touring programme. This is when the company splits itself in two; half of the dancers heading to the southwest, the other half going up north.

Brubeck’s music is infectious; but these tunes, for a quartet of sax, piano, bass and drums, lack Ellington’s big-band resonance and stature. As a result Take Five comes across as ballet-lite. The ten dancers go all out for propulsion, repeated patterns and good times, but it’s the kind of dance that doesn’t cry out to be seen again.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Solitaire (1956) and John Cranko’s Pineapple Poll (1951) complete this bill. MacMillan’s leading character is a solitary waif who dreams up a series of friends, playmates and even a putative lover. None hangs around for long. The lovely, Russian-trained Viktoria Walton has the elfin part of the character down pat, but fails to tap into the pathos.

Malcolm Arnold’s plangent pastoral score is sabotaged by some really unpalatable outfits designed by Kim Beresford to replace the ballet’s original designs. Her murky colours for the men are flatly unflattering. They suck in light like blotters soaking up ink. Even her quasi-scarlet dresses for the women seem washed-out.

No one could complain about the brightness of Osbert Lancaster’s panto designs for Cranko’s take on Gilbert and Sullivan. Set in Portsmouth, Pineapple Poll is packed with chipper silliness; yet Cranko’s talent does shine through.

Carol-Anne Millar is a comedy treat as Poll, a feisty gal until it comes to Captain Belaye (the granite-chinned James Grundy), who makes her go all woozy just by chucking her under the chin. The two BRB tours end tomorrow.

— This bill will be at the Everyman, Cheltenham (01242 572573) and the other programme is at the York Theatre Royal (01904 623568)

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