Pineapple Poll is a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras.
As a youth, at the all-male St Aloysius College in Sydney, he played Kate in The Pirates of Penzance, Leila in Iolanthe and Ko-Ko in The Mikado.
[1] In 1941–42, while at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, he played the oboe for the J. C. Williamson Company during one of their Gilbert and Sullivan seasons.
Meanwhile, Mackerras had moved to London, studied conducting in Prague and, in 1948, become assistant conductor and repetiteur for Sadler's Wells Opera.
Cranko expanded the plot of W. S. Gilbert's Bab Ballad "The Bumboat Woman's Story", in which the central character is named Poll Pineapple.
Cranko introduced new characters (Mrs Dimple) and gave Poll an admirer to enable a happy ending.
[7] In the UK, it remains in the repertoire of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, with a run of performances in 2006 and 2007 and a tour, including to Sadler's Wells Theatre, in 2011.
[9] Gervase Hughes wrote, "Although the orchestration is disfigured by over-reliance on glissando harps and succulent counter-subjects for the horns, much of the music comes over well in its new guise, and the combination of a melody from the opening chorus of Patience with the second act quintet from The Gondoliers is quite brilliant.
"[10] A black-and-white studio film of Pineapple Poll, danced by the Royal Ballet, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mackerras, was broadcast by BBC television in 1959.
A review in Musicweb International commented, "As a score, [Pineapple Poll] quite simply sparkles like freshly popped champagne.
Hot Cross Bun has arrived in Portsmouth, and the sailors, who are on shore leave, meet some pretty town's girls whom they like.
When Captain Belaye returns to the port, the town's girls and Pineapple Poll once again try to capture his interest.
Hot Cross Bun, and she continually exercises en pointe, but the Captain appears oblivious to anything unusual about her as well.
Hot Cross Bun are most displeased that the 'pot boy' has suddenly been elevated to be their Captain, and they openly show their disdain for him.
All of the girls then return to the ship's deck, wearing their own clothes, and are welcomed back by their delighted boyfriends.
The girls swoon at the sight of Jasper in his new Captain's uniform, but this time the sailors are able to keep their girlfriends in check, and all ends happily.
Music for the ballet is taken from eleven of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, Cox and Box and the Overture di Ballo, as specified below: