Guest Dancergal92 Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 I was looking to add a new Nutcracker VHS to my small collection of ballet videos. Any suggestions would be appreciated. B) Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 It would be very helpful if we knew which ones you already have. Link to comment
Hans Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 If you don't already have them, I recommend the Royal Ballet (Wright production with Dowell & Collier) and the Kirov (with Baranov and Lezhnina). Link to comment
Guest Dancergal92 Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 I actually don't have any nutcracker videos Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Oooh, much simpler then. Try the Amazon banner at the top of every page of this message board for "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" Granted, MacCaulay Culkin is not my idea of a perfect Nutcracker Prince, and it would be better without Kevin Kline's superfluous narration, but this production is what almost every American production is trying to be, trust me. Link to comment
dirac Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 I'd recommend that one, too, although I have to say the dancers could have been photographed more flatteringly -- Nichols and Kistler in particular were not well served, IMO. I put in my vote for "Nutcracker: the Motion Picture" from 1986, directed by Carroll Ballard with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and decor and costumes by Maurice Sendak. Link to comment
pleiades Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 A second for the NYCB Nutcracker -- I prefer it to the Royal Ballet. Note that if you get on DVD and have a laptop which plays same, you can have 'all Nutcracker, all the time.' Link to comment
Doris R Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 It may not be available any longer, but my daughter first fell in love with ballet by watching Baryshnikov's Nutcracker with Gelsey Kirkland. Link to comment
silvy Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I would very much recommend Bolshoi's Nutcracker starring Maximova and Vassiliev (the production in which the whole ballet is danced by these two- I understand there is another one in which the Sugar Plum pdd is danced by Nadezhda Pavlowa, but I have not seen it). This is Grigorovith's staging. I am not sure of the year, but it is around 1978, I think I have found the dancing to be truly spectacular - and the team of those two is worth seeing a hundred times!!!!!!! However there are some flaws in teh production (like when the curtains falls after the Christmas party and one of the guest stays did not manage to go behind the curtain, with curtain descending onto her!!!!! ). silvy Link to comment
Tiffany Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 It may not be available any longer, but my daughter first fell in love with ballet by watching Baryshnikov's Nutcracker with Gelsey Kirkland. This is my favorite version of the Nutcracker. I wish that someone would put it on DVD. You can get it on VHS through Amazon. Link to comment
Helene Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 There's a Pacific Northwest Ballet version that stars a young Patricia Barker. The sets are by Maurice Sendak, and the overture and ballerina doll scenes were among those that were adapted to the screen in a very charming way. I was living in NYC at the time I first saw this, and it was my introduction to the Company. Link to comment
traviata Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Nobody mentionned Noureev's one for Paris Opera Ballet, with Elisabeth Maurin and Laurent Hilaire. That is not a traditionnal Nutcracker, and you might not like it, but in my opinion, this Nutcracker is worth a glance at least because of the Grand Pas de deux, that Noureev totally transformed. Personally, I like better this Grand Pas de deux rather than the traditional one . I would say this Nutcracker has been made for adults rather than for children. Link to comment
canbelto Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 I like the new Royal Ballet Nutcracker if only for Alina Cojacaru's enchanting Clara. Most "adult" Claras are cloying and queasy, but Alina doesnt have to try hard to look like an enchanting adolescent. Link to comment
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