Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Emerging Pictures Live Ballet in Cinemas


Recommended Posts

I just found the upcoming schedule online for Ballet in Cinema. I only list the "live" events. You have to go to the Ballet in Cinema website and put in your city or zip code to find a movie theater near you that carries these live transmissions. Many of you probably already know this, but in case anyone doesn't, I am posting. I am so excited that it will be possible to see the Bolshoi's Esmeralda and Raymonda at the movies!

Live: Oct. 9, 2011 Esmeralda (Bolshoi)

Live: Nov. 20, 2011 Sleeping Beauty (Bolshoi)

Live: Dec. 15, 2011 Sleeping Beauty (Royal Ballet)

Live: March 11, 2012 Le Corsaire (Bolshoi)

Live: March 22, 2012 Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet)

Live: April 29, 2012 The Bright Stream (Bolshoi)

Live: May 16, 2012 La Fille Mal Gardee (Royal Ballet)

Live: June 24, 2012 Raymonda (Bolshoi)

Link to comment

Thank you for posting!

Two other highlights for me: "Bright Stream" and "Le Corsaire", and, if from the home theater, not the truncated version we saw in DC, which still had the magnificent "Jardin Anime".

I wonder if they'll start to release these on DVD. I know the Royal Ballet has Opus Arte, but I'm much more interested in what the Bolshoi is offering.

Link to comment

Thank you for posting!

Two other highlights for me: "Bright Stream" and "Le Corsaire", and, if from the home theater, not the truncated version we saw in DC, which still had the magnificent "Jardin Anime".

I wonder if they'll start to release these on DVD. I know the Royal Ballet has Opus Arte, but I'm much more interested in what the Bolshoi is offering.

Yes, I hope these will be released on dvd eventually. It seems like once they have it transmitted live they record these because they make them available as "encores" at some movie theaters to play later. So it would be a shame not to simply release them as dvds also.

Bart

Link to comment

I wish the nearest theater was closer than a 40 min drive. :dry: I guess the nasty Giselle in 3D remains a fluke, but I got pretty hopeful (even though they are put on by different event people).

It looks like both Sleeping Beauty and R&J from the Royal go to Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin.

Link to comment

It looks like both Sleeping Beauty and R&J from the Royal go to Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin.

Not even they could make me sit through the McMillan "Romeo and Juliet", but I look forward to seeing their "Sleeping Beauty".

I'm hoping for an Alexandrova "Le Corsaire", with Andrei Merkuriev as Birbanto.

Link to comment

Is this the right website?

http://www.emergingp...llet-in-cinema/

I checked Children of Paradise and found only a few theaters committed, none of them in my state. However, it seems you can request a theater in your area. If there are enough requests for that theater, I guess they may add a show.

One of the difficulties with ballet "movies" in spread-out areas, or outside the usual ballet centers, is getting the word out to the audience. Ballet In Cinema have what seems to be a clever way to develop a mailing list of supporters -- "Super Fans" -- who will actually participate in getting the word out in their area. All you do is give your email and zip code.

Link to comment

Let me know if you have any questions about our offerings. I work for Emerging Cinemas and am focussed on the "Ballet in Cinema" productions.

Best,

Joseph

Joseph, can movie theaters request to become a site that shows these movies? I noticed that we can request from Emerging Pictures and the more that request then something will be done, but can it be done the other way around also? Can we ask our local movie theater to contact Emerging Pictures and start showing them?

Link to comment

It looks like both Sleeping Beauty and R&J from the Royal go to Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin.

Not even they could make me sit through the McMillan "Romeo and Juliet", but I look forward to seeing their "Sleeping Beauty".

I'm hoping for an Alexandrova "Le Corsaire", with Andrei Merkuriev as Birbanto.

I am curious about your opinion about the McMillan Romeo and Juliet. I have seen the Cranko version and McMillan versions, and even though I saw differences I did not know enough about the choreography to know all the differences except for the really obvious ones. Why is the McMillan version awful, in your opinion? What other versions are there?

Link to comment

I have a minority opinion about Macmillan's R&J: Apart from the Balcony and Wedding pas de deux, I find it dull, as if Macmillan was only interested in the most bombastic parts of the score. Since it was the only version around where I lived for years, I saw it a few times and then gave up, apart from when the Balcony Pas de Deux was included in galas.

My favorite of the ballets I've seen done to the Prokofiev score is the version BBC filmed live in the mid-70's with Natalia Bessmertnova and Mikhail Lavrovsky, which is no longer in the Kultur catalog. There's nothing on the DVD listing the choreographer. I've seen a few internet listings that list Leonid Lavrovsky, the choreographer in the Ulanova version from the 50's, but Jeffrey Gantz, in a review of recordings of the ballet, writes that the Bessmertonova/M. Lavrosky is different from the Leonid Lavrovsky choreography, and descriptions of the 1989 DVD, with Irek Mukhamedov, indicate that this was Grigorovich's gussied-up revision of the Lavrovsky. I used to have the Ulanova version choreographed by Lavrovsky -- this is still available in the Kultur and vaimusic catalogs -- but I can't find it to compare. Also, the 1974 DVD with Maximova/Vasiliev credits the choreography to Lavrovsky. I'm not sure if that's an error or if Grigorovich made his changes between the mid-70's and late 80's.

I remember Ulanova being very beautiful, but I'm partial to Bessmertnova's Juliet, especially post-marriage, I could watch Lavrovsky's arms and hands forever, and the man could handle a sword. They're both in their mid-30's, but Ulanova and Margot Fonteyn were no spring chickens when they danced and recorded the ballet, and her jump is spectacular. I particularly like the choreography, because the choreographer(s) was/were listening to the entire score and told a story through it, rather than slamming it over the head with a mallet. I could have lived without Lord Capulet though, who was like a cartoon character.

I'm not sure if this is the Lavrovsky or the Grigorovich, but Lord and Lady Capulet leave Juliet alone with Paris in her bedroom, I suppose figuring they are safe if they have sex, ensuring their marriage. (Sadly, the camera focuses on them as they leave, instead of giving the full shot with Juliet and Paris dancing.) It's one of Bessmertnova's best scenes, especially the way she stops/shames him from continuing to maul her. And the tomb scene, Holy Abdominal Muscles, Batman.

Gantz' article is a fine primer to versions and recordings. He leaves out the Tudor, to a score by Delius, but that could be because it's a one act version. He wasn't as enthusiastic about the Bessmertnova/Lavrovsky DVD as I am. He also doesn't mention the Maximova/Vasiliev (VAI) DVD or the Bessmertnova/Mukhamedov version on the DVD list, but if he thought she was old at 35, I can't imagine him liking her much at nearly 50.

A non-ballet version by Jean-Christophe Maillot is available on DVD performed by his company, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. I heartily dislike the Friar-Lawrence-in-the-Asylum conceit, but the rest of the work is very fine theater, and Maillot really works the darkness of the score.

There are many excerpts on YouTube, making it easy to compare versions to get a sense of which one(s) you like.

Romeo's Balcony Scene variation, Lavrovsky, Grigorovich -- Mikhail Lavrovsky:

Balcony Pas de Deux, Lavrovsky, Grigorovich -- Natalia Bessmertnova/Irek Mukhamedov

Balcony Scene, Lavrovsky -- Galina Ulanova/Yuri Zhdanov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKTJ8QiWzQk&feature=relmfu

Balcony Scene, credited to Lavrovsky -- Ekaterina Maximova/Vladimir Vasiliev

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw2KdkEKNDk&feature=relmfu

Link to comment

Is this the right website?

http://www.emergingp...llet-in-cinema/

I checked Children of Paradise and found only a few theaters committed, none of them in my state. However, it seems you can request a theater in your area. If there are enough requests for that theater, I guess they may add a show.

One of the difficulties with ballet "movies" in spread-out areas, or outside the usual ballet centers, is getting the word out to the audience. Ballet In Cinema have what seems to be a clever way to develop a mailing list of supporters -- "Super Fans" -- who will actually participate in getting the word out in their area. All you do is give your email and zip code.

Yes this is the correct website. Getting the word out is one of, if not the toughest challange for Emerging Pictures. I would like to secure more venues as well, but it really comes from the audience to contact their theatres and demand that it be brought to them. If the theatre knows their local public has interest, they will most likely try to get our services.

The movie theater selects which offerings they would like to show. While we can suggest or recommend some over others, ultimately it is up to the theater to decide which ballets and / or how many ballets they will show in a season. Of course, say if you want to have "Children of Paradise" or for example "Swan Lake" it is always a good thing to let your theatre know that specifically and you can also let us know as well for future purposes. If the theatre sees enough potential interest in one ballet, they will most likely screen it at some point. And we can also do a lot of convincing on our end as well :)

Link to comment

The theater in Vancouver is the Scotiabank Theatre, which is also the venue for the Met HD broadcasts. They are centrally located and have a chance at a ready-made audience among the opera crowd. They also do the live theater broadcasts from England. It was the Granville Cinema that showed the SFB "Nutcracker" a few years ago, to maybe a few dozen people, although it was shown on a Saturday right before Christmas and up against the NBoC version.

Link to comment
Joseph, can movie theaters request to become a site that shows these movies? I noticed that we can request from Emerging Pictures and the more that request then something will be done, but can it be done the other way around also? Can we ask our local movie theater to contact Emerging Pictures and start showing them?

Yes, absolutely. In fact I recommend you do BOTH. Contact your theater and then contact us with that same theater - so then when we contact them, it is like "Oh, what a coincidence..." Yes, you can certainly contact your local theater and ask them to contact us - that would be great!

Keep me posted and let me know what else I can do to help!

Link to comment

Back to the R&J aside, since Royal Ballet will be doing the Macmillan version, I found the mis-filed Ulanova/Zhadanov DVD of the Lavrovsky, and I must not have seen it before, because I didn't realize it was a film, with interior and exterior sets. There are several things I love about this: the crowd scenes are rarely static, with the camera able to cut to details, there are so many more opportunities to include the crowd, the sense of space is so much bigger, and Ulanova dances with such freedom. For example, everyone from the wedding rushes to Juliet's bedroom, after she is found "dead". I'm not sure how much choreography was changed to accommodate the film.

Like with the other Lavrovsky (or Lavrovsky-Grigorovich versions, I found one of the best scenes the one with Paris, after her parents force the engagement. (In the Lavrovsky, the parents exit to leave them alone, so it wasn't a change by Grigorovich. In the Ulanova version, the camera doesn't linger on their exit.) Ulanova is like a ghost in that scene, and it's a great contrast to the sunlight and blue skies seen through the window.

Link to comment

Back to the R&J aside, since Royal Ballet will be doing the Macmillan version, I found the mis-filed Ulanova/Zhadanov DVD of the Lavrovsky, and I must not have seen it before, because I didn't realize it was a film, with interior and exterior sets. There are several things I love about this: the crowd scenes are rarely static, with the camera able to cut to details, there are so many more opportunities to include the crowd, the sense of space is so much bigger, and Ulanova dances with such freedom. For example, everyone from the wedding rushes to Juliet's bedroom, after she is found "dead". I'm not sure how much choreography was changed to accommodate the film.

Like with the other Lavrovsky (or Lavrovsky-Grigorovich versions, I found one of the best scenes the one with Paris, after her parents force the engagement. (In the Lavrovsky, the parents exit to leave them alone, so it wasn't a change by Grigorovich. In the Ulanova version, the camera doesn't linger on their exit.) Ulanova is like a ghost in that scene, and it's a great contrast to the sunlight and blue skies seen through the window.

I loved the clips you posted! I just saw the Cranko version by Miami City Ballet of R&J, and I enjoyed it a lot. I think I like the Cranko version better than the MacMillan (have the dvd with Acosta). I will have to watch them again to figure out why.

Link to comment

Please tell me honestly, Amy Reusch and others who might have seen it - is the 3D Giselle worth spending time and money on?

This is my first cinema ballet coming up, and I wonder if I should avoid disappointment by abstaining :helpsmilie: I am now thinking of price of tix, train journey and general inconvenience, money and time might be better spent elsewhere. My only experience of 3D was in London very long time ago, when they showed spectacular clips of buffaloes charging into your lap and such things. I was not amused then, and having become grumpier with the years, a battalion of wilis storming at me, doesnt somehow sounds so appealing, prefer my Giselle in the more traditional style.

Thanks in advance for any info :)

Link to comment

The 3D was odd, and I'm not sure why it wasn't filmed like a regular movie, but I was very happy to see Osipova, and just about everyone else I know was very impressed with Kondaurova's Myrtha. I thought it was fine, but wasn't blown away.

---

Scotiabank Theatre in Vancouver is selling tickets to the Bolshoi presentations, but since they start at 1pm PST, they aren't live unless they're starting in Moscow at midnight :lol:

Nothing on the Royal Ballet, but it's possible that the Park Theatre, which is the other Met HD venue -- one I'll be spending a lot of time in, since the only seats left in either Scotiabank theater for the Met HD series are in the first five rows -- will show them. I'd certainly be interested in "Sleeping Beauty".

Link to comment

As posted in the POB forum, Jean-Guillaume Bart's new LA SOURCE will also be telecast live in cinemas around the world on 4 November at 19:30, Paris time. It is not sure yet which company will carry this in the USA or if it will be offered in the USA. If somebody knows, please post.

From POB website:

Diffusion en direct le vendredi 4 novembre à 19h30 dans les salles de cinéma avec Gaumont/Pathé en France et à l'étranger

Link:

http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/Saison_2011_2012/Ballets/spectacle.php?lang=en&event_id=2127&CNSACTION=SELECT_EVENT

Link to comment

Thanks to Balanchinomane's post in the ABT forum about Hallberg being broadcast in "Sleeping Beauty" with Zakharova on 20 November, I found the following casting for the HD movies:

Bolshoi

Esmeralda (9 October): Maria Alexandrova, Denis Savin

http://www.balletincinema.com/titles/esmeralda-bolshoi/

Bolshoi Reopening Gala (28 October :yahoo:): Natalia Osipova, Svetlana Zakharova, Ivan Vasiliev, Plácido Domingo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Natalie Dessay, Violeta Urmana

http://www.balletincinema.com/titles/the-bolshoi-re-opening-gala/

Sleeping Beauty (20 November): Svetlana Zakharova, David Hallberg

http://www.balletincinema.com/titles/the-sleeping-beauty-bolshoi/

The Nutcracker: Nina Kaptsova, Artem Ovcharenko

http://www.balletincinema.com/titles/the-nutcracker-bolshoi/

Royal Ballet:

The Sleeping Beauty (15 December): Lauren Cuthbertson, Sergei Polunin

http://www.balletincinema.com/titles/the-sleeping-beauty-royal-ballet/

Nothing up yet for the 2012 releases.

Link to comment

I have a minority opinion about Macmillan's R&J: Apart from the Balcony and Wedding pas de deux, I find it dull, as if Macmillan was only interested in the most bombastic parts of the score. Since it was the only version around where I lived for years, I saw it a few times and then gave up, apart from when the Balcony Pas de Deux was included in galas.

Sorry for replying to an older post, but R&J is a favorite of mine--and I agree with you. I actually thought I was alone and that the majority of people prefered the MacMillan.

My favorite of the ballets I've seen done to the Prokofiev score is the version BBC filmed live in the mid-70's with Natalia Bessmertnova and Mikhail Lavrovsky, which is no longer in the Kultur catalog. There's nothing on the DVD listing the choreographer. I've seen a few internet listings that list Leonid Lavrovsky, the choreographer in the Ulanova version from the 50's, but Jeffrey Gantz, in a review of recordings of the ballet, writes that the Bessmertonova/M. Lavrosky is different from the Leonid Lavrovsky choreography, and descriptions of the 1989 DVD, with Irek Mukhamedov, indicate that this was Grigorovich's gussied-up revision of the Lavrovsky. I used to have the Ulanova version choreographed by Lavrovsky -- this is still available in the Kultur and vaimusic catalogs -- but I can't find it to compare. Also, the 1974 DVD with Maximova/Vasiliev credits the choreography to Lavrovsky. I'm not sure if that's an error or if Grigorovich made his changes between the mid-70's and late 80's.

I love the cips I've seen of that production, but as I asked in the R&J on DVD thread, I'm curious to what version it exactly is--also the DVD time listed on Amazon is 30+ minutes shorter than the 1974 Vasiliev/Maximova version. I *love* that version, and it is the original Leonid Levrosky choreography and original designs (I admit, one reason I like it is it's neat to see what was the first major production of the ballet--especially since it was so controversial in the Soviet Union at the time, which is why I believe it was staged somewhere earlier in a smaler production--Czecho-Slovakia I think). It is a long piece--about 155 minutes, and it has TERRIBLE lighting, some parts are hard to watch on TV which is too bad,a s the clip Helene shows, proves. But Vasiliev and Maximova are dynamite, as is everything else.

I have a Romeo and Juliet book about the Grigorovich version (part of a series of Bolshoi ballet books--with poor English translations, from a Russian publlisher, though I only otherwise own the Raymonda and Sleeping Beauty volume). It has a history of the productions and apparently Grigorovich did change some elements of the Lavrosky version in the late 70s (so I'm not sure if either DVD reflects these though I'll assume, with no credit, the 1974 Maximova one doesn't at all). But according to the book, his brand new version (with Simon Virsaladze's designs like most of Grigorovich's ballets) premiered in 1979. The Bolshoi Ballet website says the same thing. For a while, oddly, the Bolshoi seemed to have both productions in their repertoire, but by the late 80s that no longer was the case. The Grigorovich version was filmed again with Bessmertnova in 1989 for the video series The Bolshoi at the Bolshoi, but I find the production disappointing, and haven't watched much. I think the only company that still does the Lavrosky original production is the Mariinsky--where it of course premiered.

(I do find the Ulanova film fascinating with gorgeous dancing, but I'm not a big fan of "ballet films"--I prefer to see them recorded live, and it's been whittled down to, I believe, under 90 minutes. Also some of the effects in those Soviet ballet films are hard for me to take--though I do have a soft spot for the Zhakarov CInderella film).

(BTW the Mikhail Lavrosky/Bessmertnova production on DVD is still available from Kultur if you buy it with older vidoes of Giselle and Nutcracker, titled under Trilogy of Ballet-I suppose I should just buy it to see of rmyself if 30 minutes really are cut, and if it's any different choreographya dn staging wise to the Vasiliev/Maximova).

*ahem* back to the topic, although I will say I'm most excited, after seeing Esmeralda, to finally see Le Corsaire.

Link to comment

Same in Vancouver, at least so far. I hope it's being added, especially since it spans the opera and ballet audiences.

It's not playing here in Victoria, either. I noticed that it's playing in very very few cities compared to the other ballet screenings, so maybe it was an add on of sortes that only some theatres bothered with.

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...