Pet Shop Boys Score 'Incredible' Sadler's Wells Ballet Production

Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have composed their first ever full-length dance production -- an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Most Incredible Thing' -- for the world famous Sadler's Wells in London, it was announced by the theatre on Thursday, July 8.

Set to premiere in spring 2011, Tennant and Lowe have adapted Andersen's narrative and created a full original score for the fairy tale, collaborating with choreographer and director Javier De Frutos and Royal Ballet Principal, and their friend, Ivan Putrov.

Pet Shop Boys, who have often collaborated with designers and artists for their own theatrical live shows, said their first work for Sadler's Wells "is a very exciting project to be part of."

The duo also said it made sense as the next step in their career. "In the past we have written music for the club dance floor so to write music for the ballet stage seems like a logical development. Also we have always been fascinated by giving our music a theatrical context."

'The Most Incredible Thing' is set to feature a 26-piece orchestra, a 15-member cast and film and animation by BAFTA winner Tal Rosner.

Sadler's Wells Artistic Director Alistair Spalding praises the new project, saying, "New full-length dance works for today's audiences are surprisingly rare."

Pet Shop Boys are renowned for trying new cultural directions. In 2001 they wrote 'Closer to Heaven,' a West End Musical, and in 2004 they performed their own soundtrack to classic film 'Battleship Potemkin' live with the Dresden Sinfoniker in London's Trafalgar Square.