Tchaikovsky Gala (Swan Lake/Sleeping Beauty/The Nutcracker) Roberto Bolle / La Scala [Blu-ray] [2008]

Acquire this DVD (Bel Air Classique BAC-037), or the alternative blu-ray edition, if you do, for the sake of this Teatro alla Scala ballet gala as a whole, rather than for the sake of one dancer alone. I say this at the very outset of my comments, because the relative prominence in the product's presentation of the great (and exceedingly handsome) Italian dancer, Roberto Bolle may lead the unwary buyer to think (as I myself had assumed) that he is purchasing a DVD of a ballet gala oriented to display Tchaikovsky's genius, of course, but also to serve as a "star vehicle" for Roberto Bolle's undeniably glamourous star qualities as a dancer and celebrity. It really is only at the end of this staged ballet suite of excerpts from Petr Ilich Tchaikowsky's "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", and "The Nutcracker" (to cite these works by their familiar English titles) that Bolle really gets the opportunity to do some relatively extended and blazingly virtuosic solo and female-partnered dancing. This 2007 gala in Milan is a showcase for La Scala's ballet troop as an entity, one that has attained status as one of the greatest in dance, now fully (well, very nearly, at least!) on a level with the longstanding fame of La Scala's opera forces and roster of distinguished singers.

However, that said, do not let the fact that Roberto Bolle (as Prince Siegfried) very much shares the spotlight and the glory with the dancing of several other male soloists, namely the very elegant Ronald Savkovic (as the Nutcracker prince) and the pert, diminuitive, and lively Antonio Sutera (as bluebird), very balletically "cute" (and, for such a role, quite appropriately so). Others of the male dancers impress mightily, too, but have rather less solo exposure in the choreography than do those men and the the roles which they perform. As for the female dancers, they are, predictably, very, very good, but I shall not mention them much further since I am trying to clarify the appeal of this gala for the sake of its several fine male dancers. The Teatro alla Scala's orchestra is world-famous for its excellence, which also adds to the lustre of the production and of this video product thereof.

Vladimir Bourmeister's choreography (incorporating some of the original choreography of Petipa and that of Patrice Bart) and his staging are traditional yet full of imaginative touches, stitching together music and dance from the three ballets into a simple tale of a prince and his royal parents who are viewing a choreographic concert held in their honour; this requires only a single set and facilitates the continuous action. It is a spacious and beautiful set of which the eyes never tire. The costumes for dancers, and for non-dancing personages, too, are rich, varied, and quite splendid, as well. The fairy-tale prince (the one whom Bolle dances) falls in love with an occultic lady beauty, but he is thwarted in his desire to obtain her for himself and so the ballet ends, after their final sequence of solo and duo dancing, with the prince being bitterly frustrated, but (thankfully!) still alive to lead the rest of his life, one assumes, without her. With the eye-poppingly attractive physical assets of Roberto Bolle's lithely slender and muscular physique (which enables him to do lifts and other demanding male dancing feats with the ease and smoothness of few others than Carlos Acosta and himself) and, of course, of his nobly beautiful face, one can assume that his character can have, when that day comes, any future princess that the prince desires among those who may come his way!

If the buyer would like to acquire such a gala production, with splendid choreography and a tale that only touches tangentially on the action of the ballets' original synopses, this is a worthy purchase. For those whose interest primarily centres on Roberto Bolle, another of Bolle's several DVDs would make for a better choice, especially in acquiring an initial sampling of his combination of impressively athletic skill, physical beauty, and superb artistry.

I thought I was purchasing a kind of 'sampler' version of three popular Tchaikovsky classics with the usual extracts stitched together in a pick 'n mix fashion. But, how wrong can you be? This is a superb one off Gala of a carefully arranged and choreographed celebration of Tchaikovsky masterpieces. If you want a demonstration disc to show off the true qualities of the Blu-ray system, then, this is your disc. Forget those computer generated CGI items that seem to be the norm for demonstrating the technical qualities of Blu-ray; put this disc in your system and watch in amazement as the curtains open onto the Ballet proper after the ten minute 'warm up' intro - it will make your jaw drop! If you like Tchaikovsky, you'll love this superb Blu-ray disc.

A stunning example of ballet with dances to music from his 3 ballets "Swan Lake". "The Sleeping Beauty" and "Nutcracker".
It is unusual in that all the dancing from all 3 ballets has been integrated into the one scenario. Basically it uses the Swan Lake scene where the Prince chooses a bride and is duped into the wrong decision but the choreography is unique and is not the traditional scenes from those 3 ballets.
The staging, costuming and dancing are brilliant and the music is also appropriately excellent. It opens with the music of the love scene from Swan Lake played as an overture and then moves to a series of dances from the three ballets, so skillfully interwoven it has one perplexed as to which of the original ballets it originated.