"Sleeping Beauty" with Assylmoratova

[Solor]

This is another video I just got. It was wonderful - with the devine Assylmoratova dancing Aurora. Zaklinsky dances the Prince. Kunakova the Lilac Fairy. All the other dancers are not credited, but I noticed Irina Chistyakova, and Veronika Ivanova as the fairys, Tamara Mizoyan as the white cat, Yelna Pankova as Florine. It was the drab Sergeyev production, VERY drab and out-dated looking with the ridiculous wigs of the fairys and even on the men in the garland waltz. I cannot believe that the Chinese ballet wanted to actually copy these sets! Or that the Mariinksy actually perfers this production over the 1890 reconstruction. Maybe it is because there is more dancing for every one, but this really isnt a pretty production - I guess old habits die hard.

I was wondering, for those who have this video, was this film shot at the Mariinksy? When the dancers went to take thier bows at the end of each act, I noticed that the curtain was the same as that of the Bolshoi's - the gold curtain with all the Soviet/Communist symbols on it. The stage was mostly covered with Marley, though I noticed that toward the footlights the wooden floor was exposed (I know the Mariinksy stage has a wooden floor). I didnt think the Bolshoi stage had a wooden floor though. And also, it seemed that the stage was the same dimensions as the Mariinksy's, not the very wide stage of the Bolshoi. There were no shots of the theatre, or the outside, so I cant say for sure that the performance took place at the Mariinsky, but I have never seen this curtain in any film I have of the Kirov, and I have only ever seen the famous canvas/curtain of the Mariinksy theatre, and the blue curtain that comes behind that one, usually used for taking curtain calls.

[Hans]

As far as I know, it was not filmed at the Maryinsky; I heard somewhere that it was filmed at the Bolshoi theater, but I don't know if that's correct. For a Sleeping Beauty with some of the old special effects intact, you may wish to see the film of Kolpakova and Berezhnoi, which includes the panorama and people rising from and disappearing through trapdoors in the stage.

You'll think I'm crazy, but I like the wigs.

[rg]

the curtain and vastness of the stage would seem to confirm this was filmed at the bolshoi th.

[richard53dog]

the curtain and vastness of the stage would seem to confirm this was filmed at the bolshoi th.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where ever it was taped, it looks to me that they had nothing even near cameras that could function in normal stage light. I find it surprising that a performance taped ca 1988-90 has such extremely poor quality. Some of it looks like it was taped at night under water and my VHS tape is a legit one , not a bootleg or a copy

I remember performances from the 70s in NYC where the stage lighting was a bit brighter than usual , and the program would state that it was for taping purposes. I couldn't really tell the difference in the lighting myself. But it was enough to produce a good looking tape. Couldn't whoever was the TV director to figure out the light issue?

And if it was in fact filmed at the Bolshoi, there are other tapings that look fine that originated from there. The MT too.

Richard

[Hans]

I read that the vast Bolshoi stage was not sufficiently lit for video; I imagine it must have looked different in person.

[richard53dog]

I read that the vast Bolshoi stage was not sufficiently lit for video; I imagine it must have looked different in person.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hans,

I'm sure it looked fine in the theater. But for taping my understanding is that you need brighter than normal lighting (which could be a distraction for the audience in the house) or cameras that can handle the normal stage lighting and don't need extra light to capture a good image. My guess is that there was neither here.

It's crazy really, I've seen other Bolshoi tapes and they look fine.

This just seems so unlikely but maybe the taping/filming was not professionally done.

Richard