John Cranko resident choreographer for Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet's 1950–51 season. For the company's Festival of Britain season in 1951 Cranko choreographed the comic ballet "Pineapple Poll", to the music of Arthur Sullivan (newly out of copyright) arranged by the conductor Charles Mackerras. Another collaboration with Mackerras followed in 1954 with "The Lady and the Fool", to music by Verdi. In January 1954 Sadler's Wells Ballet announced that Cranko was collaborating with Benjamin Britten to create a ballet. Cranko devised a draft scenario for a work he originally called "The Green Serpent", fusing elements drawn from "King Lear", "Beauty and the Beast"
Jewels (ballet) the three acts features the music of a different composer: "Emeralds" is set to the music of Gabriel Fauré, "Rubies" to the music of Igor Stravinsky and "Diamonds" to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The costumes were created by Balanchine's long-time collaborator Barbara Karinska, who created a distinct look for each different act: romantic, calf-length tulle skirts for "Emeralds", fabric that flared at the hips of both men and women in "Rubies", and the flat, classical tutu of the Imperial Russian Ballet for "Diamonds". The costumes were such finely crafted pieces of art in their own right that some of