69 replies to this topic

[Helene]

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.

[Birdsall]

Helene, on 29 July 2011 - 12:33 PM, said:

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.

[Pamela Moberg]

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 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

[Helene]

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

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".

[Natalia]

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.operadepa...ON=SELECT_EVENT

[Helene]

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.balletinc...eralda-bolshoi/

Bolshoi Reopening Gala (28 October ): Natalia Osipova, Svetlana Zakharova, Ivan Vasiliev, Plácido Domingo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Natalie Dessay, Violeta Urmana
http://www.balletinc...e-opening-gala/

Sleeping Beauty (20 November):  Svetlana Zakharova, David Hallberg
http://www.balletinc...beauty-bolshoi/

The Nutcracker:  Nina Kaptsova, Artem Ovcharenko
http://www.balletinc...racker-bolshoi/


Royal Ballet:

The Sleeping Beauty (15 December):  Lauren Cuthbertson, Sergei Polunin
http://www.balletinc...y-royal-ballet/



Nothing up yet for the 2012 releases.

[Lidewij]

That's odd.  Here in Belgium we seem to get all of the Bolshoi broadcasts, except for the reopening gala  

[Helene]

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

I'm hoping they'll announce it as a "To be added" at "Esmeralda" this weekend.

[EricHG31]

Helene, on 27 July 2011 - 09:46 AM, said:

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.

Quote

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.

[EricHG31]

Helene, on 05 October 2011 - 10:48 AM, said:

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.

[Natalia]

Lidewij, on 05 October 2011 - 10:41 AM, said:

That's odd.  Here in Belgium we seem to get all of the Bolshoi broadcasts, except for the reopening gala  

The Bolshoi reopening seems to be the 'rarest' one of all. It's being shown in very few theaters in the USA but, luckily, in ONE TWO theaters in my area of Washington, DC: Herndon, VA (near Dulles Airport) and, closer into town, AFI Silver in Silver Spring, MD.  

It will be worth the day-off work (10 am on a Friday morn!) and the drive, though. Ah, the things that we do for art.

Edited once we heard that the AFI Silver Spring would also be showing it. See below.

Edited by Natalia, 20 October 2011 - 04:47 AM.

[abatt]

The Bolshoi reopening film appears to be a big hit in Manhattan.  In addition to the "Live" broadcast on that Friday, there are two encores showings scheduled for other dates.  I think this one is attracting ballet and opera fans.

[Natalia]

The 'Ballet in Cinemas' website has now announced a list of highlights from the program. Balletomanes will not feel short-changed (it's not "opera heavy," in other words):

Highlights from the evening’s program:

A special re-staging of the garland waltz from The Sleeping Beauty by Alexey Ratmansky, with music by Pytor Illich Tchaikovsky.

Bolshoi Orchestra performs the polonaise from the opera Ivan Susanin by Mikhail Glinka. This opera is commonly known in the West as A Life for the Tsar.

Performance of the Act II opening scene, “the Appian Way,” from the ballet Spartacus, with music by Aram Khachaturian and choreography by former director and chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Ballet, Yuri Grigorovich.

Performance of an excerpt from the opera, Betrothal in a Monastery, by Sergei Prokofiev. This opera was premiered in St. Petersburg at the Kirov Theatre in 1964.

Performance of the folk-like “Basque dance” from the ballet The Flames of Paris, with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and music by Boris Asafiev.

Rarely seen or heard in the West, singers of the Bolshoi Opera will perform an excerpt of Tchaikovsky’s one-act opera, Iolanta. This opera served as an opening to the premiere of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker, in St. Petersburg.

Members of the Bolshoi Opera perform the famous “Polovetsian Dances” scene from the opera Prince Igor by A. Borodin.

And many more surprises!

[Natalia]

Another theater in the DC area will be airing the Bolshoi Reopening Gala LIVE - just announced:  the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD. (Hoorah - closer to my home in downtown DC!)

http://www.afi.com/s...etincinema.aspx

Unlike the Worldgate 9 in far-off Herndon, VA, the AFI Silver is already selling tix online. It's $15 per person.

Hopefully other theaters across North America will be added in the coming days.

[Natalia]

re. the Dec 15 planned showing of the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty (with Cuthbertson & Polunin), I just notice that a local theater in the DC area (AFI Silver Spring, MD) has cancelled this, citing that "this production has been postponed to summer 2012" :

http://www.afi.com/s...etincinema.aspx   (scroll down to 4th production on list)

I'm wondering if this is just a one-theater postponement or if the entire  plan to show it across the world has been scrapped (or postponed til summer)?  Maybe the timing of the Bolshoi's Sleeping Beauty 3 weeks earlier is to blame (too many Beauties, too soon)? [There are never "too many" Beauties for me.]