Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker - San Francisco Ballet

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

We purchased this to prepare our two sons to see a local live production of the Nutcracker. We love it! The quality of the production is just beautiful, especially in HD. It makes explaining the story to children much easier. (There is also a synopsis on the DVD, which is very helpful) This production includes the applause of the audience, which helps to make it feel like a real performance and not a silent stage set. It is a bright, lively performance.

The DVD is organized in chapters, which makes it easy to navigate from scene to scene. Our four year old has asked to watch it again three nights in a row, and we can easily skip from one favorite part to another. (Right now, he likes the Children's March and the battle scene the best.) My favorite is the Snow scene, which is absolutely gorgeous.

The storyline doesn't stray too far from the familiar tale, but there are some interesting twists. Drosselmeyer is mysterious, but not scary, and we enjoyed watching the opening bit in his clock shop. The stage magic is entertaining and fun. The young Clara transforms into an older version of herself in Act 2. There are some fun surprises in Act 2, with little twists on the usual dances. Even the Arabian dance, usually my least favorite, is fun to watch.

Whether you are looking for a first Nutcracker, or you want to add to a collection, this is a great performance to buy. (Parents and teachers: The San Francisco Ballet has a wonderful teaching guide on their website, with additional background and activities.)

This new SF Ballet production of the Tchaikovsky warhorse is a real treat for dance fans and novices alike. The physical mounting's sumptuous, witty, and the San Francisco references seem playful, not forced. There are moments of such stunning beauty in this performance, the music, design, dance and storytelling combine to transport the viewer instantly to a happy, marvelling state of childhood. Would serve as an ideal introduction to the NUTCRACKER for young viewers, and there's plenty for their parents to enjoy, too. Highly, highly recommended.

This is a spectacular performance of the Nutcracker with lots of little twists on the traditional dances. My parents who are classical music, ballet and opera lovers said it's the best Nutcracker they've ever seen. The dancing is marvelous, and the costumes are elegant and beautiful, set in the period during the San Francisco 1915 world's fair. If this is not the best Nutcracker, then it's got to be in the top two or three. You won't be disappointed if you purchase this DVD.

Frankly speaking, this DVD is a disaster. Sorry to say, but film director Matthew Diamond and his cameramen explicitly ruin the show.
You can see the whole stage for only a few seconds in every scene. You see the whole stage, and say "wow, what a wonderful decoration, oops..", then the camera zooms in, you see the smiling faces of dancers. Not their feet, not their body, but their faces. I can say that, Chinese snow queen is a beautiful woman, but I could not appreciate her dance. I'm not exaggerating, camera does not stand still more than 3 seconds. When 3 seconds pass, camera moves, or zooms in, after an additional 2 seconds, then another camera is in action. What a technology!?
I saw many choreograhies of Nutcracker, I think this was a very good one, good dancers, good orchestra, but extremely disappointing film. Not worth buying.

This performance could have been one of the most pleasant of Nutcracker performances available on DVD, if we could see the dance as it was choreographed and performed on the stage. But we see only bits and pieces of the dance shown through endless camera close ups.

During the entire dance we don't see the stage for more than 10 seconds at a time. What we see is close ups of faces, medium shots of one or two dancers in a small area of the stage, the panning of the camera to move along with the dancers from one side of the stage to the other and so on. We get a constant barrage of zoom in, zoom out, pan and scan. At some points if you are not suffering from motion sickness and frustration to the point of closing your eyes, you will notice that while the camera is panning you actually end up seeing blurry images of the dancers. So we get to watch the camera do its thing while the dancers do the dance on the stage that we don't get to see because they are not shown.

I don't know about anyone else but I don't watch a ballet for the smiling faces of the dancers. Furthermore, I'd like to let my own eyes do the panning and scanning of a ballet performance on the stage.

Helgi Tomasson's Nutcracker has one of the best first acts I've ever seen, with one of the ... well, dullest Act 2's. The juxtaposition is alarming -- all the charm and magic in Act 1 disappears in an Act 2 that's muddled in concept, joyless and bare-bones in decor, and basically a huge let-down.

This Nutcracker is updated to San Francisco's World Fair in 1915, and the overture has charming pictures of San Francisco around that time period super-imposed on the scrim. The ballet then starts with a very charming street scene, in which Drosselmeyer is shown carefully preparing his toys and magic tricks. The slice-of-life is very well maintained throughout the street scene, and it immediately gives one the warm-fuzzies. (The only other Nutcracker I can think of with such a charming intro is Balanchine having Marie and Fritz fight for a view through a door where their parents are preparing for the party.) The party scene is also very charmingly staged. Real children (including a child Clara) are just darling, and Claro Blanco as the Ballerina Doll was adorable. The mouse scene was staged with more humor than actual menace (a nod to Tomasson's mentor Balanchine perhaps, who also made his mice cute and silly). One change they had was Clara springs a mouse trap on the Mouse King to kill him. I didn't so much like this, I prefer Clara throwing the shoe, but as a stage effect it worked well, and I also liked the Mouse King crawling down the trap door head first to die. The snow scene was loveliest of all. Yes having a Snow Queen and King was a bit cheesy, but Yuan Yuan Tian danced so well, who cares?

Act 2 was when it all started to go downhill. First of all, this Kingdom of the Sweets is the drabbest, barest kingdom in the world. It seemed to be framed in a spare, metallic, set where the lighting of the background changed throughout the act. Only a dark ribbon framing the top of the set indicated that this was the Kingdom of the Sweets. Throughout the act the only people watching the proceedings are Clara, Drosselmeyer, and two guards dressed in olive green uniforms. In the beginning, when child fairies and butterflies populated the stage, and they looked more at home in Midsummer's Night Dream than Nutcracker. The diverissements choreography I generally liked. I particularly liked the Marzipan trio, they waved around ribbons with charming skill. Mother Ginger was back too. There's also a cute dancing bear.

But where this Nutcracker really messes up is that throughout Act 2, the child Clara is sitting onstage. But Helgi Tomasson also wants the adult Clara to dance the grand pas de deux. What does he do? Well the Sugar Plum Fairy instead dances only the Waltz of the Flowers. In other words, it's as if the SPF becomes the Dewdrop (the choreography is also remarkably similar to Balanchine's choreography for the Dewdrop). Then, for the grand pas de deux, suddenly, the adult Clara just walks out of an enclosed gazebo-like structure that's been wheeled onstage, and she dances the grand pas de deux with her Prince. This transition is very very muddled, and I feel it's Tomasson trying to have it both ways -- the purity of a child Clara and a Clara that can get on pointe and dance a big number. It just doesn't work. (Neither does the puke-gold tutu the adult Clara is wearing.) The actual choreography of the grand pas de deux is almost an exact replica of Balanchine's, complete with the "jump to shoulder" lifts.

It's a shame because the quality of dancing in this video is remarkably high. Maria Kochetkova is a very graceful adult Clara, and has a very creamy way of shaping the phrases of the music. Vanessa Zahorian is given very little to do but she is charming with a nice, bouncy jump. Davit Karapetyan is a very regal prince, and he accomplishes impressive turns in the air. But in the end, the details do matter even in a holiday staple like Nutcracker. Such a dark, joyless decor for Act 2 matters, as does the quick-switch between child and adult Clara.

This is by far the best performance of the Nutcracker I've seen, live or recorded. The fresh setting (both time --1915, and location--San Francisco), as well as the beautiful costumes and the fabulous twist on the pas de deux make it a pleasure to watch. The use of the World's Fair Pavilion as a backdrop for Act 2 is also a fun change.

This production is more child-friendly than many others, because it lacks the creepy persona that Drosselmeier is often given. There is also a more playful nature to many of the dances (the Chinese dance with the dragon comes to mind) which children love.

Helgi Tomasson should be commended for choreographing an old standard in a new way that makes it exciting to both new viewers and those who have seen the ballet many times before.

I have performed this ballet many times as a pit musician. I still love it! It is one of the most famous ever writton. My 4 year old daughter loves this! She has probably watched it 50 times since I bought it for a Christmas present a year or so ago. The cinematography, acting and choreography are all excellent. In addition, the ballet is brought to life with a great orchestra performance. Kudos to the San Fransisco Ballet company. A must have if you love classical music and/or classical ballet.

Having seen Nutcracker in several productions, I can say that this one is incredibly beautiful, from the colors, to the coreography. First act is charming with a party scene with little boys and gilrs. My daughter favorite are Clara's friends, expecially the smaller one with the yellow dress. The snow scene is a classical beauty with great snow and lights effects. The second act starts with a scene that reminds me of Midnight Summer Dreams, flowers and dragonflies and cute small ladybugs dancing with the Sugar Plum Fairy. This scene is best appreciated from a distance as the coreography creates circle of flowers that open and close in delicate shades of yellow and orange. The Russian Dance is also one of my favorite. Madame De Cirque and her buffons are as cute as ever. A well deserved applause to these little dancers.

This version blew me away with the seamless scene/stage changes for the first act. The 1915 storyline was a fresh approach. The snowstorm at the end of the first act was unbelievable.

If anyone has not had the opportunity to buy this, I suggest that one does so immediately. A visually enchanting performance to match the music.