Customer Reviews

Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible / Mukhamedov, Bessmertnova, Taranda, Zhuraitis, Bolshoi Ballet

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this ballet very much. The dancers were superb, as were the sets (I thought the use of the curtain was quite clever). Irek Mukhamedov in the title role was outstanding. The camera was a bit too distant at times, but not so much it spoiled the viewing. Overall, a very good production.

A really powerful production. If you don't care for Prokofiev's music in general you might still like this. A powerful story of a powerful ruler and his descent into cruelty and madness, reflected in the music becoming disjointed towards the end. Superb choreography and dancing. Unlike the video tape of the Bolshoi production of this ballet, well photographed.

If you've ever tried to decide who the worst choreographer of the twentieth century was, Maurice Bejart or Yuri Grigorovich, this ballet, or this production of it at any rate, may help you to settle on the latter. The technically brilliant Bolshoi dancers emote and leap about in an exhausting two hours of relentless but utterly pointless dance. The eye-rolling and huge gestures characteristic of Grigorovich's direction count for nothing here. Elegant, long-legged ballerinas mince around on point for no reason whatsoever. There's nary a bourree to be seen. And the costumes! The dancers are upholstered and slipcovered rather than costumed. You know there must be wonderful, expressive bodies under all that drapery, but you don't get to see them. Mukhamedov wears tights, a doublet, a Speedo embroidered with Mylar, and loincloths, front and back. What a waste! And his is not the silliest costume by a long shot. And all these people dance like crazy with extraordinary line and vigor--to no effect. (Some of those grand Bolshoi lifts almost don't come off, though.) It's all so driven and difficult. I won't comment on the score used for the ballet except to say that it's "arranged" from Prokofiev's film scores. Poor man, he was still suffering indignities at the hands of Soviet functionaries after being dead for more than thirty years.