Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
by Yelena Macheret
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DVD details
Actor: Sergei Radchenko, Vladimir Vasilyev, Yekaterina MaksimovaDirector: Yelena Macheret
Brand: KULTUR
Producer: Dennis Hedlund
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-11-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
DVD Review: A Nutcracker fatally lacking charm and Christmas spirit
Summary: 2 Stars
This 1984 "live from the Bolshoi" has a few things to recommend, but many more negatives.
The positives:
1. A few divertissments are well-choreographed. The dancers are strangely out-of-sync, and the choreography (by Grigorivich) lacks the gentle humor of Balanchine, but in general, the choreography has some nice original touches. For example, in the Marzipan dance, the couple come onstage dragging a stuffed poodle. Eccentric, but original and actually charming.
2. The leads, Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev. The Bolshoi eschews a child-Masha and instead has adults dancing the parts of Masha and the Prince. This allows them to dance much more in the second act but eliminates the Sugar Plum Fairy. But Vasiliev and Maximova are strong classical dancers, and both are terrific leapers. Maximova has a very winning smile, and a lovely figure. She's not too tall, not too thin, very charming.
And now, the negatives, and there are a lot:
1. The technical issues. The stage is way, way too dark. You can barely see the tree. The sound is terrible -- tinny, squeaky, not well-recorded at all. Plus, this is a live performance, and there is one obvious gaffe: at the end of the first act one extra ends up on the wrong side of the curtain.
2. The Snowflakes. For some inexplicable reason, they are in truly horrifying powdered wigs that look like a cross between George Washington and "Mrs. Bates" in Psycho. They are pasted onto the dancers so loosely you can see a crack between the actual head of the dancer and the wig. Truly hideous.
3. The choreography. If there was one theme of Grigorivich's Nutcracker, it seems to be: all 200 members onstage at all times! The stage is constantly overcrowded at every moment, and at the end of the party scene the curtain falls and one dancer is left on the wrong side of the curtain. Funny, but somehow indicative of this sloppy, dreary performance.
The Mice scene is one of the most poorly choreographed Mice/Soldiers fights I've seen. For one, there seems to be no fighting/jousting, simply the soldiers lining up onstage and dancing, and then the mice dancing. The big moments like Masha throwing the shoe or the death of the Mouse King go for naught, in this muddled mess.
Afterwards, when Clara and the Prince dance for the first time, typically the stage empties for this sweet, romantic awakening moment. But Yuri Grigorivich has a bunch of toy soldiers and dolls dancing in the background.
In the second act Pas de deux, Masha and the Prince do not dance in solitude -- the corps dancers from the divertissements and waltz dance along with them. The males are holding up huge candelabras. Why???
4. Maximova as Masha. This is not criticizing Maximova as a dancer. But the Nutcracker was filmed in 1984, Maximova was born in 1939, and quite frankly, she doesnt look nearly youthful enough to be convincing. Larissa Lezhnina (Kirov), Alina Cojocaru (Royal Ballet), and Gelsey Kirkland (ABT) are all much more believable as a young girl.
5. Overall production values. The production just looks old. The sets dusty, the costumes tattered and dull, and the dancers look bored out of their minds. The corps look surprisingly sloppy, especially in the divertissements. There's no joy, no mirth, no fun.
I would not recommend this as anyone's first Nutcracker. The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and Kirov versions are all much better-produced and charming.
Description of Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
TCHAIKOVSKY'S MASTERPIECE OF HOLIDAY FANTASY AND MAGIC COMES TO LIFE IN THIS THRILLING BOLSHOI BALLET PRODUCTION STARRING YEKATERINA MAXIMOVA AND VLADIMIR VASILIEV. A DELIGHT FOR DANCELOVERS OF ALL AGES.Classical Music CDs
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