In summer 2026 Shanghai Ballet revive Derek Deane’s world premiere production of Carl Davis’ Le Fantôme et Christine for a 10-date national tour to Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Pingtan, Anhui Baixi, and Shanghai. Davis’ final ballet score, the two-act 140-minute work after Gaston Leroux’s 1911 novel premiered in 2023, choreographed by longstanding Davis collaborator Deane, with designs by Lez Brotherston. See images from rehearsals for the world premiere production here.
Davis’ score for large orchestra sets the scene by drawing on the various musical styles of the Belle Époque in which Leroux’s novel is set, including French revolutionary songs, folk dances (the Farandole) and a riotous Can-Can. The music of the Phantom, depicting his delusions and fixations, develops themes from Davis’ 1996 score for the Lon Chaney/Rupert Julian silent movie version of the story. Davis writes,
…the tonal range could be stretched and distorted – the man is a murderer and yet still a man. He has known nothing but pain and rejection from birth. He yearns for love but can only see violence as his means of attainment. Dissidence is his norm. Nothing must stand in his way.
In Derek Deane’s new realisation of the tale, the operatic elements at the centre of the original story are jettisoned. Christine is transformed into a budding ballerina, the protegee of the mysterious Phantom, and a balletic showpiece – the finale of a ballet based on a mythological subject - rather than opera gala opens the piece.
Deane’s first collaboration with Davis was Alice in Wonderland in 2006 for English National Ballet, which toured the UK and subsequently transferred to Pittsburgh Ballet theatre. In 2008 it was followed by the world premiere production of The Lady of the Camelias in Croatia in 2008, which was revived for the Shanghai Ballet in 2019 in a revised version and toured China in 2020 and 2024.
Davis’ ballet scores continue to receive widespread international performances and acclaim. In 2026 The Great Gatsby, choreographed by Jorden Morris, appeared at Colorado Ballet in January and receives a revival at Orlando Ballet in April and May. Howard Quintero’s production of Alice in Wonderland makes its Slovenian debut in the at the SNG Opera in Balet Ljubljana on 16 April, where it receives ten performances; the 100-minute score to the ballet, after Lewis Caroll’s iconic story, will be conducted by Simon Dvoršak.