69 replies to this topic

[Natalia]

Three hours is a 'standard' night for a traditional Petipa ballet. It's the basics.

The Osipova-Sarafanov GISELLE was from a different prodction team...from the Mariinsky and done in 3-D, I believe. The Emergeing Pictures team does a much better job.

[Birdsall]

Amy Reusch, on 08 June 2012 - 01:23 PM, said:

Fille Mal Gardee was mostly very well produced video-wise and very well worth the ticket... but the Giselle last summer with Osipova and Sarafanov had terrible framing choices... I wonder if there are different directors used for different cities and how we can find out who will be responsible.  

Grigorovich's Raymonda is over 3 hours?  That's really long.  I have my doubts that all 3 hours are worth the viewing and suspect that what is good in it will be lost in the drudgery of what is not.  How do people here feel about his Raymonda?  Is it too long to encourage non balletomane friends to come to?

I find Grigorovich's Raymonda very exciting. He throws in a lot of bravura stuff that wasn't in the original Raymonda. For example, right before Raymonda's entrance Jean de Brienne jumps and jumps (in excitement at the arrival of his fiancé). Jean de Brienne has a much larger role than originally intended. He is in all of Act 1 if I remember correctly. In the more traditional Raymondas he has gone off to the Crusades as the ballet begins and sends a portrait of himself to Raymonda's birthday and only shows up in her dream, but in the Bolshoi's version, he takes part in the birthday and then leaves but appears in her dream also.

Abderakhman has more exciting dancing too, if I remember correctly. I think the traditional Abderakhman has very little dancing. Grigorovitch gives this character much more dancing to do.

I love this ballet, so I will definitely go see it. I would go see it if they added even more scenes and made it 5 hours long!

I loved the La Scala reconstruction and bought the dvd when it came out recently, but the Bolshoi version is a lot of fun too. More dancing for the men and a slight change in the story. It will actually confuse some people if they already know the more traditional Mariinsky or La Scala versions.

The Danse orientale which I have obsessed about in previous topics is done almost like a duet for Abderakhman and Raymonda in Grigorovich's version. Overall, I believe Raymonda's variations stay pretty much the same. It has been a while since I viewed the Bolshoi's version on dvd. But I enjoy it. The only bad thing is that I think the sets look very dated, unless they have updated or created a new production since the commercial videos from the 1980s. I hope this is a new production compared to what I've seen from the 1980s videos!!! I know it is not new this year, but maybe sometime in the last decade they replaced the sets.

I wouldn't miss this presentation! But each person has his/her own personality, so you might not like it as much as I do. Some gorgeous dancing throughout the ballet. Act 2 "Cour d'amour" is full of fun national dances. Act 3 contains the wonderful Grand pas classique hongrois.  

Act 1 sometimes drags for me, b/c it is a long act when you include the dream sequence, but the dream sequence has some gorgeous dancing too.

I absolutely adore this ballet, so I can't imagine not wanting to see it, but I don't want to rave and then you go and can't stand it and curse me! LOL

Bart

[Amy Reusch]

Thanks Bart!  It now sounds so much more promising!

[Birdsall]

Amy Reusch, on 08 June 2012 - 03:29 PM, said:

Thanks Bart!  It now sounds so much more promising!

If you are not a fan of Grigorovich's choreography you might not like it, but overall it is still based on Petipa. I think the male roles are fleshed out much more in Grigorovich's version. Zahkarova is going to dance Raymonda in this transmission, and some people don't like her, but I enjoy her dancing. I think most complaints are about her ultra high extensions and her cold demeanor. I think stand offish demeanor works okay with Raymonda, although ideally she would be like a little princess in her first act. Later she can be a bit colder. Overall, I think Zakharova should do well. There is a video of her Raymonda from Japan (most of it was on YouTube), and she is good in it.

[ksk04]

Update to the expanding Cinemark locations for the summer. There is now a website which makes the whole thing more streamlined: http://www.cinemark.com/bolshoi-ballet

If you buy tickets to all six showings up front they are offering a 42% discount off face value. Not bad! That makes each one $7 which is cheaper than I've paid for any movie not at a discount theater in many, many years.

[Jayne]

wow, that is a good price!  Thank you so much for the link, it is enormously useful.

[sandik]

This series baffles me -- in my part of the world it's only showing at a theater in a shopping mall in a suburban city away from the cultural center.  I'm very confused.

[Birdsall]

The Ballet in Cinema now lists the following as this coming season's offerings:


2012-2013 Ballet in Cinema Series

• Move to Move (Nederlands Dans Theater)
  
• La Sylphide (Bolshoi Ballet), Herman Severin Løvenskiold
  
• L’Alra Meta del Cielo (La Scala Ballet), Vasco Rossi
  
• Swan Lake (Royal Ballet), Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
  
• An Evening with Kylian / Inger / Walerski (Nederlands Dans Theater)
  
• The Pharaoh’s Daughter (Bolshoi Ballet), Cesare Pugni
  
• The Nutcracker (Royal Ballet), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

[Birdsall]

Someone else posted the following website that says the Bolshoi will be transmitting many more shows, but I guess here in the U.S. we're only getting some. Very disappointed if we're not getting the Bolshoi's Bayadere!

http://www.pathelive...lchoi-2012-2013

[abatt]

Thank you for posting this schedule. Does anyone know the schedule for the opera in cinema lineup for 2012-2013?

[Helene]

If you scroll to the very top, you should see a thin gray horizontal bar, and on the right hand side, a link to "Opera in Cinema."

[Birdsall]

Abatt,
Here's the link to the page

http://www.operaincinema.com/titles/

[abatt]

Thank you, Birdsall!

[Birdsall]

The Siegfried looks great on paper! Love Nina Stemme! Lance Ryan isn't bad either or wasn't a few years ago.

[abatt]

The casting for La Sylphide is up on the Bolshoi website. Sylphide will be the next ballet to be broadcast in the Ballet In Cinema series.  I believe they are broadcasting the Sept 30 performance.  If that is the case, the lead cast is Krysanova and Lopatin.   I think I would have preferred to see the alternate cast of  Obratsova and Skvortsov.

New York's Big Cinema Manhattan is presenting Sylphide on Oct 7, according to their website.