Britten - The Prince of the Pagodas / Bussell, Cope, Chadwick, Dowell, MacMillan, Royal Ballet
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DVD details
Actor: Anthony Dowell, Darcey Bussell, Jonathan CopeDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 194 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-31
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Britten - The Prince of the Pagodas / Bussell, Cope, Chadwick, Dowell, MacMillan, Royal Ballet
DVD Review: The Salamander Prince of the Balinese Pagodas...
Summary: 3 Stars
... is a dance marathon (127 minutes) where nobody drops from exhaustion except the home viewer.
Born in South Africa, John Cranko (1927-1973) made his career as choreographer/director in London and Stuttgart. At 26 he was commissioned to make a three-act ballet for Covent Garden. Thus he originated "Pagodas," incorporating fairytale elements including the old French stories "The Green Serpent" and "Beauty and the Beast," and a comedic treatment of "King Lear." When he asked Benjamin Britten to suggest a composer, Britten liked the scenario and said he himself would do it. Busy Britten later asked for a series of schedule extensions, including one to visit Bali, where gamelan music so impressed the composer he included such effects in his ballet score. Between choreographer and composer the familiar conflict arose: whatever Cranko had envisioned had to be modified as Britten's piano score (not yet orchestrated) drifted in: two divergent imaginations! And of course, one couldn't keep changing sets and costumes in progress. The 1957 premiere was followed by 22 performances at home, 10 on the American tour (New York was unenthusiastic). After 1960, with all its faults, the ballet disappeared. Though the scenario had proved a muddle, Britten and subsequently his Executors would not approve use of the music for a different story.
After a 5-year period in which he had not created a ballet for Covent Garden, and having survived a serious heart attack in 1988, Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992) was perhaps precipitous in deciding to remount the faulty "Pagodas." Honored writer Colin Thubron was called in to rectify the basic problem: the diffuse scenario deficient in events. MacMillan made a superhuman effort to animate the three long acts (Britten's music could NOT be cut).
The new production premiered in December 1989, and the video appeared in 1990. The costumes are brilliant. The sets are rather sparse, but that's to the good. Britten's music is fresh, danceable, full of ideas, but finds no cause for dramatic flights, for human emotions: it's a superficial fairy-Leary tale.
ACT I. At Court, "evil" stepsister/sorceress Epine (Thorn) immediately transforms the courtiers to monkeys and changes sister Rose's beloved prince into a salamander, which is banished to The Other Land. Four kings, of wildly different personalities, court Epine and then Rose. The Fool, with painted clown face, also has transformative magical abilities, and briefly brings back Rose's human prince for a pas de deux. Epine seizes the crown from the old king, and Rose dashes off to The Other Land:
ACT II. After the shallow plot mechanics of Act I, Act II is a phantasmagoria in which all principals appear, dancing, dancing, dancing. The backdrop comprises splotchy clouds, and soon six female clouds and two male clouds dance and dance. Oh, before that, two quartets of young men run around with dragon banners. The Fool blindfolds Rose so she can imagine she is dancing with her human prince. But when the blindfold is removed, her beloved appears as a ground-slithering masked salamander. From the wings, movable medieval castle sections invade the stage as the salamander scurries away from the bewildered Rose. Blue pagodas appear. Finally, the greenish creature stops, and Rose cradles its poor head. Lovingly. Forty minutes of choreography, ten minutes of which have a point!
ACT III. The Court again. Epine teases and abuses the old king (a doddering character role). The salamander slithers on, and is immediately restored to human form (by Rose's love). Principals and corps perform a long series of bravura dances (eliciting Brava, Bravo, Bravi from several claques working for chocolates). The prince battles and routs the four foreign kings. Order in the Court is restored, and Princess Rose and Prince Sal in magnificent robes advance to the audience, and the Fool pops up between them, but before he can say "I wrote this!" the curtain nips shut.
I beseech Britten's Estate: Liberate his imaginative music from this anemic fairy-Leary scenario engendering interminable unfocused dancing. Divide the three-part score among an American, an Australian, and a Canadian choreographer. We'll call the evening "English Spoken Here."
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Description of Britten - The Prince of the Pagodas / Bussell, Cope, Chadwick, Dowell, MacMillan, Royal Ballet
Studio: Kultur Release Date: 03/28/2006Classical Music CDs
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