Royal Ballet - The Nutcracker

[antonella]

Hi all,

for my ballet collection I'm considering to buy the 1985 performace of The Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet with Lesley Collier and Anthony Dowell (DVD). Any comments or suggestions? Do you think it is too "old" compared to more recent performances?

Hope to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

Antonella

[Cygnet]

Hi all,

for my ballet collection I'm considering to buy the 1985 performace of The Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet with Lesley Collier and Anthony Dowell (DVD). Any comments or suggestions? Do you think it is too "old" compared to more recent performances?

Hope to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

Antonella

Hi Antonella, IMO the Collier/Dowell dvd is the best compared to the more recent ones available.

It's one of the few records of Lesley Collier on film, and one of her final appearances as a Royal Ballet

principal. She was a classically pure and regal Sugar Plum. Dowell is also quite excellent in this performance.

[EricMontreal22]

There's some discussion of this by me and others in the Ballets and Choreographers folder. I have a lot of problems with the Royal Ballet production I admit--but I have a lot of problems with most Nutcrackers, lol. But, the filming is very good and even if it's not as clear as the more recent Royal Ballet filming, I think all the changes made to the production by then detract instead of add to the ballet. A lot of the choreography for the 80s production was based on the original Ivanov (the Snowflakes, Waltz of the Flowers, Grand Pas even having that scene where Sugar Plum is pulled on a scarf en pointe--all those original touches have been dropped or changed for the revised version as well as Nutcracker and Clara now dancing throughout the divertissement, needlessly).

Despite my grumpy sounding reservations, I think the 1980s Royal Ballet Nutcracker is probably the best traditional Nutcracker all things said. And Collier and Dowell are *great* even in their awful costumes ;)

[antonella]

Hi all,

for my ballet collection I'm considering to buy the 1985 performace of The Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet with Lesley Collier and Anthony Dowell (DVD). Any comments or suggestions? Do you think it is too "old" compared to more recent performances?

Hope to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

Antonella

Hi Antonella, IMO the Collier/Dowell dvd is the best compared to the more recent ones available.

It's one of the few records of Lesley Collier on film, and one of her final appearances as a Royal Ballet

principal. She was a classically pure and regal Sugar Plum. Dowell is also quite excellent in this performance.

Thanks Cygnet, I bought it and can't wait to see it.

[antonella]

There's some discussion of this by me and others in the Ballets and Choreographers folder. I have a lot of problems with the Royal Ballet production I admit--but I have a lot of problems with most Nutcrackers, lol. But, the filming is very good and even if it's not as clear as the more recent Royal Ballet filming, I think all the changes made to the production by then detract instead of add to the ballet. A lot of the choreography for the 80s production was based on the original Ivanov (the Snowflakes, Waltz of the Flowers, Grand Pas even having that scene where Sugar Plum is pulled on a scarf en pointe--all those original touches have been dropped or changed for the revised version as well as Nutcracker and Clara now dancing throughout the divertissement, needlessly).

Despite my grumpy sounding reservations, I think the 1980s Royal Ballet Nutcracker is probably the best traditional Nutcracker all things said. And Collier and Dowell are *great* even in their awful costumes ;)

Thanks Eric, your help was precious.