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- We are here in the home of The London Symphony Orchestra,
which is St. Luke's church in Clerkenwell.
We've been here for four days,
recording a brand new soundtrack
for the play Sleeping Beauty
we're going to record in a few weeks time.
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The original Tchaikovsky score is over three hours long.
So we have cut it down to about two hours,
which we are then going to lay underneath
a brand new drama written by the dramatist, Marty Ross.
- When I first saw the script from Marty,
I was astounded how much he'd already thought
about the music and how much he'd had chosen
so many moments as the springboard
for the energy of the scene
and the way he was writing it.
The introduction to this project
was actually quite easy to see inside Marty's head
and see how he was thinking to the final destination
of how the score would integrate.
- Using this music, which is so clear
and well-defined in my head as being
to do with the eternal tale of the Sleeping Beauty.
To use it in a very different manner, not totally different,
but a very different manner for a production like this
while still maintaining the elements
of this fantastic score.
And somehow it gives it a different lease of life again.
- With a ballad it is, it's running a story,
everything in it is telling the story.
So to have someone who can really shape that,
'cause we all have our own interpretations and ideas,
it really makes a difference.
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- Sleeping Beauty in the story is very passive
and Marty has gone for a much more empowered,
intelligent, energized heroine
who had a life plan before it was rudely interrupted.
- I think it's quite obvious
the moments which are going to be full of love
or pathos or action.
So it's gonna be extremely, extremely exciting
the moment we actually see it all together.
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- It is so thrilling to be back in a room with live music.
There's 65 people in the orchestra
and I could feel it from my toes to the top of my head
timpani crashing around, violins flying over the top.
It was just magical.
- There's a reason the music like this
survives such a long time,
is because it's touched so many people and so many hearts.
And I think having that launchpad
coupled with incredibly rich story
which Marty sprung so many lovely details
and drawn more events, expanding the magic.
The human elements, the mystical,
I think it should be an extraordinary journey.
And I'm hoping people will re-listen to the experience
because I think that's where all the details as a team
that we incorporate start to repay.
- There's something incredible
about actually doing Sleeping Beauty
as the project that's bringing the LSO
and Audible drama out of lockdown
and into shared space again.
About waking up our creativity
after a long and forced sleep.
We are all feeling very much connected to this story
and to hear the music rising and waking
and reanimating today.
I can't wait to get into studio
and put the actors over the top.
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