Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2016/17: Anastasia
YOUR RATING
Photos
Storyline
Featured review
Uneven but fascinating
'Anastasia' was not well received when first premiered in its three act version, having been premiered in a one-act version in 1967 with the one act being the third act in the 1971 version. Having seen this Kenneth MacMillan-directed revival, as part of Royal Opera House's Live Cinema simulcasts, for myself, my take on the ballet is that it is fascinating and has well-crafted moments but is uneven.
Undeniably the music is wonderful, the first two acts using Tchaikovsky's first and third symphonies and the final act using the wildly inventive and quite haunting Symphony no 6 by Martinu, not a favourite but found myself really appreciating the work and how it's used here. Neither of the Tchaikovsky symphonies among his best, those being the symphonic masterpieces that are fifth and sixth, but have wonderful elements. Inexperience shows at times in the first but the exquisite slow movement and exciting final movement especially stand out, and although the third is often considered his weakest (considered too academic and disjointed with some being perplexed by the unusual for Tchaikovsky structure) the third movement is hauntingly beautiful and the last movement has a real lively charm. The contrast between the first two acts and final act music-style wise is very striking.
The blame doesn't lie with the production values either. It makes wonderful use of the alternate worlds, having a sumptuous elegance for particularly Act 2 and an effectively disturbing austerity for Act 3. Nor the musical values, with the orchestra giving the Tchaikovsky symphonies the necessary wide range of emotions and the Martinu a suitably eerie ambiance. The conducting is alert to the drama while being accommodating to the dancers.
Many of the performances are very good, especially a sensational in every sense Natalia Osipova, dancing with poise and agility and providing a wholly nuanced, heartfelt and sometimes intense account of Anastasia/Anna dramatically. Just as good are a touchingly dignified Christina Arestis and a sparkling Marianela Nunez. The grand duchesses and their suitors have a bright youthful vigour and Tiago Soares is appropriately menacing as Rasputin although he doesn't have very much to do.
Kenneth MacMillan's choreography has many moments where it's clever, humorously witty, tense, sensitively moving and intricate in true MacMillan style, but it's only really in the last act where his particularly gift of character psychology and relationships shines and where the choreography leaves one in awe at its ahead-of-its-time invention and brilliance. The choreography in the first two acts is beautifully done, but organised in a way that's episodic and somewhat academic. Dramatically, while the music and production values do a wonderful job with the alternate worlds it doesn't translate so well in the choreography where it does feel too mismatched and some have objected to the implication that the delusions of Anna are reality-based which does undermine the final act's ambiguity.
Not all the performances work though most of them do. Some of the male cast members, including the Tsar Nicholas of Christopher Saunders, are stiff and out of sorts and the Bolsheviks are more out-of-kilter camp than menacing.
In summary, fascinating but uneven, worth watching but falls short of greatness. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Undeniably the music is wonderful, the first two acts using Tchaikovsky's first and third symphonies and the final act using the wildly inventive and quite haunting Symphony no 6 by Martinu, not a favourite but found myself really appreciating the work and how it's used here. Neither of the Tchaikovsky symphonies among his best, those being the symphonic masterpieces that are fifth and sixth, but have wonderful elements. Inexperience shows at times in the first but the exquisite slow movement and exciting final movement especially stand out, and although the third is often considered his weakest (considered too academic and disjointed with some being perplexed by the unusual for Tchaikovsky structure) the third movement is hauntingly beautiful and the last movement has a real lively charm. The contrast between the first two acts and final act music-style wise is very striking.
The blame doesn't lie with the production values either. It makes wonderful use of the alternate worlds, having a sumptuous elegance for particularly Act 2 and an effectively disturbing austerity for Act 3. Nor the musical values, with the orchestra giving the Tchaikovsky symphonies the necessary wide range of emotions and the Martinu a suitably eerie ambiance. The conducting is alert to the drama while being accommodating to the dancers.
Many of the performances are very good, especially a sensational in every sense Natalia Osipova, dancing with poise and agility and providing a wholly nuanced, heartfelt and sometimes intense account of Anastasia/Anna dramatically. Just as good are a touchingly dignified Christina Arestis and a sparkling Marianela Nunez. The grand duchesses and their suitors have a bright youthful vigour and Tiago Soares is appropriately menacing as Rasputin although he doesn't have very much to do.
Kenneth MacMillan's choreography has many moments where it's clever, humorously witty, tense, sensitively moving and intricate in true MacMillan style, but it's only really in the last act where his particularly gift of character psychology and relationships shines and where the choreography leaves one in awe at its ahead-of-its-time invention and brilliance. The choreography in the first two acts is beautifully done, but organised in a way that's episodic and somewhat academic. Dramatically, while the music and production values do a wonderful job with the alternate worlds it doesn't translate so well in the choreography where it does feel too mismatched and some have objected to the implication that the delusions of Anna are reality-based which does undermine the final act's ambiguity.
Not all the performances work though most of them do. Some of the male cast members, including the Tsar Nicholas of Christopher Saunders, are stiff and out of sorts and the Bolsheviks are more out-of-kilter camp than menacing.
In summary, fascinating but uneven, worth watching but falls short of greatness. 7/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•00
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 22, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- 英国ロイヤル・オペラ・ハウス シネマシーズン 2016/17 ロイヤル・バレエ「アナスタシア」
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content