A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Ross MacGibbon
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DVD details
Actor: Julie Tobiason, Patricia Barker, Paul Gibson, Ross Yearsley, Seth BellistonDirector: Ross MacGibbon
Producer: Bob Lockyear
Producer: Hazel Wright
Producer: Nighel Shepherd
Writer: William Shakespeare
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0; English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.0
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC / Opus Arte
DVD Reviews of A Midsummer Night's Dream
DVD Review: Near Perfection
Summary: 5 Stars
Opus Arte deliver yet another solid disc where the sublime classic A Midsummer Night's Dream is treated with a VC-1 encode and 1080i transfer. An incredibly difficult to stage ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream is comprised of different musical items linked in a specific manner making it danceable. As noted by the producers of this disc each chapter also represents a sectional break from the ballet. Not surprisingly casual viewers are given an excellent opportunity to follow and analyze the progression of the story with the actual transitions well defined. Crystal clear picture quality, excellent detail, and at times unbelievably natural looking colors is what we have here. The 2.0 track appear more balanced and with weaker obertone amplitude - the nuanced interactions between the winds and the strings for example are hardly distinguishable to the non-trained ear. The 5.1 track changes all that. There is notably more depth here, the two groups are very easy to identify, and the degree of clarity is very, very impressive. I spent a great deal of time comparing how the overture sounds on each mix and there is no doubt in me that you could hear more with the PCM 5.1 track. Take my words for granted and do some experimenting, play with the two tracks.
To sum it all up this is a very strong presentation with all-around excellent basics which Opus Arte appear to have mastered to near perfection.
DVD Review: A common man's point of view.
Summary: 5 Stars
I noticed some reviewer has stated that the DVD disc he/she received from amazon was defective because it would not play on his/her DVD player. I thought so too, and I purchased the product knowing it was an HD-DVD thinking it would play on my player since it had an HDMI output and was connected to a HD television set. But, guess what? It WON'T play on a non-HD player. I contacted the dealer from whom I bought the HD-DVD and they said they would gladly give me credit for the DVD even though it was opened and MY fault. I decided to keep the HD disc and get myself an HD-player. This disc plays perfectly on the new player, and I am certainly glad I went that route because the picture quality is superb. I now have two players hooked up to my set because the new HD player won't play PAL format discs, whereas, the the non-HD player will.
This ballet has some of the best music your ears will ever have the pleasure to hear. I've always loved Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Nights Dream, and like someone else said the solo horn passage is one of the best ever written. I just know in my heart that the young Mendelssohn at 17 years of age was having a ball writing this music with the twinkling of fairies and the braying of donkeys, not to mention the antics of love struck adults as only Shakespeare could describe them.
We might as well say something here about Ashton's The Dream because in my mind it is as good as the Balanchine version. The only difference that my unsophisticated untrained eye could see was that The Dream did not have the Duke and Hippolyta nor the palace court divertissements nor, in fact, did it even have a second act, but told the whole story taking place in the Forrest glade. Both stage settings were absolutely magnificent.
Balanchin's use of children for little fairies and bugs of all kinds is a wonderful addition to his version of the ballet and adds to the length as well. The children of the Pacific Northwest Ballet (done at the newly restored Sadler's Wells Theater in London) are students of PNB School' and must have traveled to London with the entire troupe. Don't you just know those little ones were thrilled to get to go to London with everyone else? They are the best trained children's group I have ever seen, though I have only seen children in The Nutcracker, so I am no expert on children in ballet. These children were GOOD to say the least, and the young lady playing "Butterfly" is as good as many "ballerinas". Her performance was delightful to watch, and one day she will be starring in a grand ballet.
I was so delighted with "The Dream", that I got out my volume of the complete works of Shakespeare and read A Midsummer Night's Dream, it being at least 60 years since I had read it (I'm a 77 year old male).And because I have the ballet Romeo and Juliet, I went on to read that story too. If I wasn't too old for antics I would kick myself for waiting this long to become interested in this so beautiful art form.
Notice this version SAYS it is an HD-DVD so anyone buying it must be aware that it will NOT play on a non-HD player. The Dream is not HD but looks FANTASTIC played on the HD player.
DVD Review: Balanchine would love this ballet company !
Summary: 5 Stars
With this new blu-ray release, ballet fans have another option to view what the overwhelming majority of reviewers think is one of the best ballet productions ever filmed.
Though now directed by former NY City ballet dancer/choreographer Peter Boal, this Seattle based company went from a "second city"/provincial, little dance group with a small budget (and not much dance history) to a major player on the international scene when they had the good fortune to have former Balanchine dancers Francia Russell & Kent Stowell take the helm in 1977. They taught their dancers the Balanchine style, and this comes through in spades with this production of one of Balanchine's rare evening-length ballets.
Patricia Barker (Titania) grew up with Russell & Stowell, coming up through the school that was established when the former NY City Ballet duo left Germany for Seattle. She was deservedly well-known and respected all over the world (she retired recently), and her dancing by itself would be more than enough reason to get this DVD. But this group is so talented that the dancer who rivaled Barker for many of the lead roles through the '90s, Louise Nadeau, could have danced Titania to critical acclaim of Balanchine himself. Nadeau makes the second act pas de deux as much of a highlight as the one between Titania and Bottom (to the accompaniment of that beautiful nocturne with arguably the greatest French horn solo in all of classical music history). Nadeau is a fantastic dancer, and Seattle audiences were lucky to have her AND Barker together for so many years.
As other reviews have mentioned, most of the plot resolves itself in the first act (almost an hour), and the second act (only half an hour) includes a beautiful divertissement set to Mendelssohn's 9th String Symphony (the slow middle movement is the previously mentioned pas de deux that Nadeau shines in); a wedding scene for the two reunited couples (as well as Hippolyta & Theseus) to Mendelssohn's infamous wedding march; and a tail end selection of the Midsummer Night's score for the butterflies, bumble bees & fairies to sum everything up with Puck.
Fortunately, the feet of the dancers aren't cut out of the frames as in so many ballet productions, the beautiful costumes of Martin Pakledinez must have been wonderful confirmation for the Balanchine Trust to allow Russell & Stowell to commission the redesign of the original production, and every dancer in the corps gives you the impression that they are future Barkers and Nadeaus. This isn't too far fetched, since the retirement of Barker, Julie Tobiason, Lisa Apple, Paul Gibson and others from this live 1999 London performance has led the way for Mara Vinson, Noelani Pantastico, Carrie Imler, Kaori Nakamura, Maria Chapman, Jodie Thomas and Lesley Rausch to fill in for those lead roles. Nadeau will dance Titania for the first time on April 4th, 2008, and Chapman, Pantastico, Nakamura and former NYCB dancer Miranda Weese will each take turns performing the act 2 pas de deux.
Highly recommended, this production ranks up there with the SLEEPING BEAUTYs, SWAN LAKEs, SYLVIAs and GISELLEs. Whether Blu-ray, HD-DVD or the old VHS, treat yourself to this flawless production.
DVD Review: Unkindest Cut of All
Summary: 2 Stars
This would have been an exquisite DVD if it hadn't been edited on rusty Cuisinart. The editing of this video is a crime; everyone involved in this project should be enraged.
Balanchine instructed the editors of film versions of his ballets to "edit on the breaths" or words to that effect. Whoever did this edit cuts mechanically from one POV to the next completely without regard for the action on stage, the rhythm of the music or the dance, or any sense of his own timing. The result is nauseating.
I'm not writing this to dissuade you from buying the dvd; it is a lovely performance of a great ballet. I am hoping that somehow word gets back to the hack who edited this thing that he or she should be ashamed.
DVD Review: Beautifully staged
Summary: 3 Stars
Beautifully staged, and choreographed. Filmed wonderfully. Given the nature of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the ballet appears to be too sterile and formal, and hence appears like a museum piece. Although Balanchine's choreography is wonderful, there did not appear to be opportunities for any one performance to shine and the divertimento was simply not that diverting.
Else, other than that, the picture quality and sound were wonderful, except for the poor choice of coarse mesh fabric on the scrims which were distractingly visible in the background. The choice of VC-1 codec instead of MPEG-2 (which many large American studios use on their blockbuster films especially on Bluray due to the misconception that higher bitrates make better picture) has lead to a crystal clear picture with almost no perceptible motion artifact, or blocking. Soundwise, the choice of dolby digital plus was a major convenience for me as I was able to utilize my 10 year old Aiwa home theatre system in full 5.1 surround sound to maximum effect. Another Opus Arte HD-DVD title Swan Lake is encoded with DTS, causing no sound to come out of the home theatre system unless the HD-DVD player was set to downconvert the multiple channels to 2, (requiring stopping the HD-DVD and entering setup) irritating to say the least.
Description of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Choreographed by an artistic genius, Shakespeare's comedy of magic and love's delusions set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn is a guaranteed audience pleaser. Pacific Northwest Ballet displays all the vitality, brilliance and versatility of its wonderful dancers in this award-winning production of Balanchine's first original full-length ballet.Music & Musicals DVDs
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