TONY IOMMI On BLACK SABBATH Ballet: 'I Never Thought We Would Have People Dancing To 'War Pigs' And 'Iron Man''

A ballet soundtracked by the music of BLACK SABBATH will premiere in September at the Hippodrome theatre in the heavy metal legends' original hometown of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet's director Carlos Acosta and Ballet Now, the ballet will include eight specially reorchestrated BLACK SABBATH songs plus new music inspired by the legendary British heavy metal outfit.

SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, who has been present at some rehearsals and has been visited in his studio by Black Sabbath Ballet composer Christopher Austin, was asked by Birmingham World if he could ever have imagined that half a century after he formed SABBATH that Birmingham's ballet company would be dancing to their music. Tony laughed and said: "I wouldn't have believed them, really, to be honest. At the time when I got involved with BLACK SABBATH, I thought it was great, because it was something so different, and hasn't been done before. And I found it, I think, a good challenge.

"I'm looking at our music differently now with this [the ballet], because it is being interpreted in a different way. It's still got the basic things, but then it did have in the different orchestral things coming in. And then I never thought for a minute we would have people dancing to BLACK SABBATH and 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man'. But here we are, you know."

Regarding Birmingham Royal Ballet's interpretation of SABBATH's music, Tony said: "Birmingham Royal Ballet are very conscious of the work being what it is — the SABBATH music. We don't want to change it so you can’t recognize it. So they've held that part of it, but added another dimension to it. So I was very happy with that."

As for whether he thinks the Black Sabbath Ballet could inspire heavy metal fans to become ballet fans, and ballet fans to become heavy metal fans, Iommi said: "I certainly hope so. I mean, it is a strange combination, but you've got to push the boat out. And, you know, hopefully, we can get everybody together. But they're opposite but they're not at the same time — because it's still creative. They're creating what they're doing. We're creating what we've done, and we're bringing them together. And I think it'd be really interesting to see the SABBATH fans and then to see the ballet fans liking it, hopefully."

Artistic director Carlos Acosta revealed that 60 percent of tickets so far have been bought by SABBATH fans. He said that "BLACK SABBATH is so different from the world of ballet, and I wanted to multiply our reach. I hate to be predictable; I hate for the company to be taken for granted. Everyone knows 'Swan Lake' and 'Cinderella' … [It's] a great opportunity for us to show people the world of dance."

Austin, who has supervised the music for the project, said: "Unlike THE BEATLES where you can buy two enormous volumes of all their scores with all the instrumental parts, there's not so much for BLACK SABBATH.

"When I was asked to take part in this project I thought, where do you start? The BLACK SABBATH catalog is enormous, it's so rich and so varied. So the process initially was starting to narrow down the amount of material that we wanted to work with that would furnish us with variety, with richness, with different emotional tones, but also help us create this evening-length show."

Austin added: "What I love about BLACK SABBATH music is the glorious irregularity. All the aspects of music — the flexibility of tempo and feel. And the extraordinary early period Ozzy vocals which are stratospheric, it's exceeding Pavarotti in term of the high notes and ringing power."

The songs chosen are:

* "Paranoid" ("Paranoid" album, 1970);
* "Iron Man" ("Paranoid" album, 1970);
* "War Pigs" ("Paranoid" album, 1970);
* "Black Sabbath" ("Black Sabbath" album, 1970);
* "Solitude" (Master Of Reality" album, 1971);
* "Orchid" (Master Of Reality" album, 1971);
* "Laguna Sunrise" ("Vol 4" album, 1972) and
* "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" album, 1973).

"Black Sabbath - The Ballet" will run from September 23 to September 30. The run in Birmingham completely sold out and an extra matinee has been added at 1 p.m. on September 24.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's "Today" program, Acostasaid he had been a fan of SABBATH for more than two decades, and said he felt the band's classic protest song "War Pigs" still has particular resonance.

"'War Pigs' is so relevant today, how sometimes politicians and governments hide behind words. And all the wars happening at the moment... it's timeless."