One of four available tapings of SLEEPING BEAUTY
by the Kirov. This one is from the early 1980's, a time when
Ponomaryov (Florestan), Selyutskii Catabulette)
and Lopukhov (Carabosse) were still
appearing in character roles. Senior stars of
the company still onstage include Irina Kolpakova
(Aurora, alleged to be 55 at the time of the taping),
Gabriella Komleva (Diamond Fairy,
a solo part really not danced in the west), and
Yelena Yevteyeva (Florine). Stars still in their
ascent include Lyubov Ku****ova (Lilac Fairy),
Sergei Berezhnoi (Desire) and Andre Garbuz
(Bluebird). It is difficult to think of a more splendid
cross-section of the big names in a famous company
at some time in the past. The original VHS was 144
minutes, and the DVD re-issue is 170 minutes, meaning
that 26 minutes of mid-act applause is restored
on the DVD, including those three calls for
Komleva to come out of the wings after that solo not
danced in the west because Diamond Fairy is simply in a
quartet with Sapphire, Gold and Silver fairies (who are
a trio in this older version). The choreography
is by Sergeyev, and the conductor is Fedotov.
Another interesting improvement over the old
VHS version is that the original American videotapes
were very fuzzy in appearance, while the
DVD is crystal clear, so you see Kolpakova's
makeup effectively returning her to her youth
as a sixteen-year-old party girl, and get a
better view of the lake and the castle beyond
in the Wedding Scene, which are really a sight
to see. How this compares with the SLEEPING
BEAUTY at the Kirov of twenty years earlier,
an abridged studio version featuring Natalia
Dudinskaya, Yuri Solovyev and others not
otherwise filmed in full-length roles in the 1960's,
and a wide swath of those who later changed companies,
including Natalia Makarova and Valeri Panov who
came to America earlier in their career and the
Aurora, Alla Sizova, who may still be coaching in America
after a fabulous career at the Kirov, is probably for
the individual viewer to ascertain. Still, this
newly-reissued SLEEPING BEAUTY DVD is one
of the great ones!
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