Cheap Prokofiev - Cinderella / Sibley, Dowell, Royal Ballet (DVD) (John Vernon (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Prokofiev - Cinderella / Sibley, Dowell, Royal Ballet

A Funny, Romantic Ballet With A Great Score
This filmed version of the Royal Ballet's 1969 Cinderella is a knock out, provided you're willing to accept it on its own terms. The DVD is a filmed record of the ballet's theatrical presentation. The camera takes in the stage in full shots, with medium and close-ups at times of the featured dancers. <
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>What it makes it valuable is that this is the only record we have of one of the famed ballets of the Twentieth Century. What makes it so watchable, if you're so inclined, is a great score by Sergei Prokofiev, clever, funny, romantic, classic choreography by Frederick Ashton, a sumptuous production and superb dancing by Antoinette Sibley as Cinderella and Anthony Dowell as the Prince. They were the Royal Ballet's most famous and accomplished dancing pair after Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev. And giving the ballet great verve and humor is Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann dancing the roles of the ugly sisters. Both were acclaimed premier dancers in their prime and had successful careers after, Ashton as one of Britain's great choreographers and Helpmann as an actor, choreographer and ballet manager. (You might remember Helpmann in The Red Shoes and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.) They provide the comic relief throughout the ballet. The sisters are man hungry, jealous of each other and of Cinderella and absolutely unconscious of how unattractive they are. Ashton and Helpmann are great in the roles. <
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>The DVD is no marvel of clarity, but it's certainly watchable. It's well worth having if you like Prokofiev, if you like a classic of ballet, if you like two great comic turns...or if you like all three.

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Finally a director that does not use inapropriate close-ups
This video is superbly directed: there are few head shots and few waist-and-head shots. <
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>As anyone who loves ballet knows there is nothing more annoying than the director that focusses on the principal dancer's face while an ensemble of 40 people dances out of the frame. Especially with a choreography such as Ashton's this would have been disastrous. Fortunately the director knows his job and keeps an ideal distance from the dancers. You can still see the principals while not missing any important action that goes on in the background. It's as close to watching the actual performance as you can get. <
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>Ashton's choreography might not be his best but it's still very good. The dancing is very good. <
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Not my favorite Cinderella, but some good dancing
Of the Cinderellas I have seen, Frederick Ashton's version is perhaps the most traditional. He sticks fairly closely to the fairytale, set once upon a time in a land far away. His big idea is to have men-in-drag (in this video, himself and Robert Helpmann) play the stepsisters. The other two Cinderellas I have seen are unfortunatley not available commercially at the moment. One is choreographed by Vladimir Malakhov for the Berlin Ballet. It takes place in a ballet company, and Cinderella in this case is an aspiring ballerina. Malakhov plays one of the stepsisters, a bad ballerina-wannabe. The ballet ends with Cinderellas triumphant debut in a ballet. The other is Rudolf Nureyev, for the Paris Opera Ballet. Nureyev set his story in the 1920's, and Cinderella is an aspiring actress. Nureyev plays the fairy godmother, a movie producer. The ballet ends with a signed film contract for Cinderella. <
>Of the three versions, Ashton's isn't really my favorite. I think the clowning of the stepsisters gets old after the first act, and Ashton's ballet simply isn't as funny or interesting as Malakhov's or Nureyev's. The seasons and Act 2 ball choreography are rather slow, and drag on interminably. Nureyev and Malakhov both move through the seasons (which is a slow part of the ballet anyway) much more briskly than Ashton. <
>Ashton's Cinderella has surprisingly little choreography for Cinderella herself. I admire Ashton a lot as a choreographer, but I don't think Cinderella was his most imaginative work. Nevertheless, the ballet has some nice touches. The sisters preparations for the ball in Act 1 (complete with primping, wigs, and emergency dance lessons) is one of them. <
>This video is a nice document of Ashton's ballet. It's one of the only videos with Antoinette Sibley, who is simply a radiant ballerina with the loveliest smile imaginable. At the end of Act 1 Sibley leaves for the ball in her coach and she looks back at tha audience with a radiant smile. There is also a nice moment when Cinderella uses the broom as a dancing partner. The Prince is Anthony Dowell, Sibley's regular partner. The Ugly Sisters are Sir Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann. They're pretty funny, but I feel that the sisters' clowning gets old after awhile. I also think the orchestra plays Prokofiev's dainty, almost impressionistic score very poorly. The strings sound somewhat out of tune, the horns blare gracelessly, and the whole orchestra plays Cinderella with all the attention and energy they'd devote to elevator music. <
>As a side note, an earlier 1955 video made with Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes is also now available on dvd. That version was made for tv, and has many many cuts. Strangely I prefer that video to this one, because some of the padding is gone. <
>I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression -- I'm glad I have this Cinderella on video. The dancing is why I give this four stars. I just don't think it's an overwhelming masterpiece and I think other, better Cinderellas (particularly the POB one and even Ashton's 1955 tv version) exist.