Still Life at the Penguin Cafe

The pieces / sections in the ballet are: • The Penguin Cafe (musical piece Air à Danser) • Utah Longhorn Ram (musical piece Prelude and Yodel) • Texan Kangaroo Rat (musical piece Long Distance, original title Horns of a Bull) • Humboldt's Hog Nosed Skunk Flea (musical piece Pythagoras's Trousers) • Southern Cape Zebra (SCZ) (musical piece White Mischief) • Rain Forest People (musical piece Now Nothing) • Brazilian Woolly Monkey (musical piece Music By Numbers) • Conclusion (musical piece Numbers 1–4) == Story line ==

The ballet begins with a voice-over (by Jeremy Irons) describing how the great auk was very recently made extinct by man. The initial segment is set in a cafe, where several humans are served by penguins dressed as waiters. The humans watch a number of performances in which endangered species (or culture, in the cast of the Rain Forest People) dance. In the conclusion, all the characters withstand a downpour by gathering on an ark-like boat. == Production Details ==

From the 1988 production: • Performed by the Royal Ballet • Composed by Simon Jeffes (Geoffrey Richardson co-composed "Brazilian Woolly Monkey" i.e. "Music by Numbers") • Choreographed by David Bintley • Designed by Hayden Griffin • Music performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden • Conducted by Isaiah Jackson • Narrated by Jeremy Irons Dancers • Utah Longhorn Ram - Deborah Bull • Ram Partner - Guy Niblett • Texan Kangaroo Rat - Bruce Sansom • Humboldt's Hog-nosed Skunk Flea - Fiona Brockway • Southern Cape Zebra - Phillip Broomhead • Rainforest People - Tracy Brown, Jonathan Cope, Michelle di Lorenzo • Brazilian Woolly Monkey - Stephen Jefferies • The Great Auk - Nicola Roberts == Recordings and publications ==

• LaserDisc: London/Decca #071 222-1 (1991). See production details above for choreographer, etc. Out of print. • Sheet music, arranged for piano by Henry Roche. Published by Peters Edition Ltd (London) 2002; . Still in print as of November 2007. • VHS tape — Polygram Records; ASIN 630202367X, 1992. Out of print. • DVD — Published by ArtHaus. ASIN: B000Y351ZC. In print since January 2008. Both the LaserDisc and DVD contain a 50-minute documentary on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Album The music for the ballet was released as an album, under Jeffes' name, together with an 18-minute suite called Four Pieces for Orchestra, comprising orchestral recordings of earlier PCO tracks: • Perpetuum mobile • Southern Jukebox Music • Oscar Tango • Music for a Found Harmonium • CD: Polygram records (1991) ASIN B00000E42T. BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Barry Wordsworth. Out of print but available as a digital download. == Footnotes ==