Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Collier, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden

This is a recorded before a live audience in 1985 in London UK.The costumes are nice but tend to run in similar colors. If you are expecting vibrant hues and contrasts, you will not find it.The dancers are excellent especially the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Their dance is superb.No pyrotechnics as you see in some today, a refreshing rendition and it preserves some of the original coreography that was used when first premiered.

Honestly, this version with the bizarre costuming, wigs, and staging is pretty strange. However, the dancing and choreography are wonderful and delightful. You just have to ignore the staging and weird costumes. Normally the British ballet companies are very imaginative and colorful. Check out the Birmingham Ballet with Miyako Yoshida. That one is just superb in every way.

I saw this version as a child on a recorded VHS. I treasured it but couldn’t watch it now because I don’t have access to a VCR. This was exactly what I was looking for.

This was broadcast on tv (pretty sure on PBS, if not this particular recording then definitely also from one of the years around this time) and my parents taped it because I LOVED the Nutcracker music and ballet. No luck finding the VHS since my childhood unfortunately. So glad I found this DVD copy.

The choreography was beautiful, and the dancers so graceful. I enjoyed this version of The Nutcracker, and did not have that middle-of-the-program boredom that sometimes sets in. I did like the clever staging and the color of their costumes, they blended so well together. Thoroughly enjoyable.

A great deal of review has already been done on this ballet; with the reviewers giving grades to this production that range all the way from one star to five stars. I have recently viewed this production (the laserdisc version!) and wish to provide another angle to the reviews.I give it 4 stars; which is pretty good to me. I give 5 stars only to the greatest works. This is not the greatest, but it is still quite good. Some reviewers who give it very low scores seem to forget that this performance of the Nutcracker was filmed live- in late January 1985 (I imagine it was a special performance as it was danced over a month after Christmas)- in fact there are some nifty views of the audience during this performance. A live performance cannot be edited easily as there is only one "take", yet at the same time it provides a much more authentic look to the production.Most, if not all of the other performances of the nutcracker cited by the reviewers are actually assembleges of various performances over a period of days. Therefore comparing this live production to them is not fair. The other performances are good, yes, but one must realize what is actually being shown on the DVD, Laserdisc, or videotape.

The Nutcracker with Leslie Collier and Anthony Dowell has become one of our favorite Christmas traditions. It is so beautifully performed and staged. We have other versions, unfortunitly VHS, but this is the best.

I enjoyed this DVD very much much. It makes a nice edition to my Christmas viewing. It is like you are really there, at Covent Garden, and viewing the live performance!