New toys

ARRIVED TODAY VIA AIRMAIL FROM THE UK: A DVD called of the 1960 film THE ROYAL BALLET, with Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes dancing Swan Lake Act 2, an abridged version of The Firebird and Ondine. The movie was a kind of precursor to Peter Gelb's currently new-and-chic Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts; the ballets were specially shot onto film off the stage of the Royal Opera House, bringing the most newsworthy ballets in the Royal's rep to movie theatres all over the place. (The current disc has so far only released in Europe, so it's Region 2 PAL, but I hacked into my DVD player and got it to play all regions! The things I do for my ballet DVDs...)

I'm jazzed because I've been trying to get a recording of these performances for a long time. It was released on DVD in Europe about two years ago then diesppeared; I tried to get a copy from Amazon.de, but when it arrived, I found that the Fonteyn/Nureyev Romeo & Juliet had been incorrectly imprinted onto the disc (even with all the packaging correct)! The replacement copy all had the same problem, so it was evidently a huge error in the manufacture. Thankfully, the disc that I got today from DanceBooks in the UK plays the correct material, and I'm super excited to go home and watch!!

The DVD is a great selection of material: Fonteyn's Swan Lake was an iconic role for her, and Ondine, choreographed by Frederick Ashton, put her in the history books. Plus, having Ondine on DVD rounds out the available-on-DVD collection of Ashton's full length story ballets (Cinderella, La Fille Mal Gardee, Sylvia - transferred to DVD from the BBC telecast, technically - and now, Ondine).

Appendix- Ashton full length ballets on record

CINDERELLA is on two commercially released discs: one with Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes in an abridged 90-minute version for American television from 1957. Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan play the Ugly Sisters. The other version is with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in a complete performance on-stage at the Royal Opera House, from 1969. Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpman play the Ugly Sisters, and Georgina Parkinson - now a balletmistress at ABT - is the Fairy Godmother. Another recording that isn't on DVD is a 2003 BBC telecast of the Royal Ballet's newest production, with Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. The sets are all big and fancy and Cojocaru is a Cinderella for the books.

LA FILLE MAL GARDEE is commercially available with a 1981 Royal Ballet performance with Leslie Collier and Michael Coleman as Lise and Colas and Brian Shaw as the Widow Simone. There is also an Australian Ballet recording with Fiona Tomkin and David McAllister (a really great Colas), available in the US only on VHS right now, but in Europe on All Regions PAL DVD. Not commercially available, but around in private collections, are a 2005 Royal Ballet performance from the BBC with Marianela Nunez and Carlos Acosta and, even more rare, a 1962 BBC telecast made especially for TV in a soundstage with Ashton's original cast: Nadia Nerina, David Blair and Alexander Grant as Alain.

SYLVIA was broadcast on the BBC in 2005 in a revival staged by Christopher Newton. Darcey Bussell starred as Sylvia and Roberto Bolle was Aminta. This is not currently available on DVD, though at the time of the broadcast, it was strongly rumored - nothing yet, though.