Is there a DVD of Cranko's "Onegin" anywhere?

[Anna C]

I suspect the answer to this is going to be "no", but my daughter is reading Pushkin's "Eugene 

Onegin" and hasn't yet been able to see a performance of Cranko's ballet.  She was away when RB last performed it in 2015 (?) and too young for it prior to that.  I know the Tchaikovsky opera is widely available on DVD but apart from excerpts of and interviews about the ballet on Youtube, there doesn't seem to be a recording of the full ballet available anywhere.  Nor does the RB or any other company seem likely to stage the ballet in the UK this year or next.  

 

Am I remembering correctly that there isn't a DVD of the full ballet in existence? 

[Fiz]

I don’t think there is, Anna.

[Jan McNulty]

As far as I am aware there isn't a DVD of the ballet.

 

A National Ballet of Canada film was shown on the BBC many years ago (Frank Augustyn and Sabine Alleman?) and was available on video.  Sadly it was never re-released on DVD.

[Anna C]

Ahhh, thank you both.  Do we know why? 

[betterankles]

Rights.

THe film should be somewhere on the internet - with National Ballet of Canada.

[FLOSS]

 There is no official recording of the work although the Stuttgart company made a recording of the ballet as long ago as the mid 1970's with a cast which included Marcia Haydee as Tatiana. Heinz Close as Onegin and Egon Madsen as Lensky. If I were trying to find a recording of a specific ballet or excerpts from it on the Internet I should try putting a few of the names of well known interpreters into my search engine. 

Edited November 25, 2017 by FLOSS

[Anna C]

Thank you both.  Honestly, I've googled until my eyes blurred and I can't source the full ballet anywhere.  Such a shame because it's relatively rarely performed in the UK.  Were I wealthy (and physically able), I'd have whizzed daughter across to La Scala earlier this year!

[Two Pigeons]

As I understand it the Cranko estate is very anti permanent records of his works.  It is a similar story with both The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet.  Personally I think it is a huge shame.

[MAB]

I've DVD's of ballets I've never seen live and it whets my appetite to actually see the works onstage.  The Cranko estate is missing a trick.

[Naomi M]

And they try to erase anything of Onegin's recording online.  But I hear they are going to film the performance at Stuttgart this season. 

[jonac]

A year or so ago I was told by a good authority that the reason there is no DVD is a copyright issue..

[toursenlair]

a performance in Stuttgart last month was filmed. No news on when the DVD will be released, but it is coming.

[Fiz]

Hooray!

[J_New]

That's great news!

 

[jmhopton]

This is brilliant news. I always enjoyed the Canadian version on video but a new version would be wonderful. However, when I think of all the wonderful RB casts that might have been filmed and which are now lost forever it makes me very cross that filming rights have never been given. Cranko mustn't have minded it being filmed as he permitted the first cast to be filmed and also (presumably) the Canadian Company. I'm sure Onegin would have been included at least once if not more than once in the cinema screenings if permission had been given and some of these amazing performances might have been captured; Alina/Johan, Mariella/Thiago and my favourite Tamara/Adam Cooper with Alina and Ivan Putrov. Also didn't Yasmine play Olga in the last run? Can't wait for the next RB run of this great ballet with all the new Principals and First Soloists (it was on my wish list for this season). Who knows, perhaps now permission might be granted to film one of them. That would be amazing.

[jmhopton]

6 hours ago, toursenlair said:

a performance in Stuttgart last month was filmed. No news on when the DVD will be released, but it is coming.

 

Just had a thought; do you know casting for the filmed performance, Toursenlair? Any idea of dvd release date?

[alison]

Another problem might possibly be picture quality: when they did the live relay to Trafalgar Square some years ago (Cojocaru/Kobborg?) the bedroom pas de deux came across pretty poorly because it was so dark.

[stucha]

It's being performed by Paris Opera Ballet at Palais Garnier from 10 January until early March. Tickets on sale now.

[Naomi M]

The November 3 and 5 performances were filmed, but I heard the performances were not so good except for Alicia Amatriain, Elisa Badnes and Marcia Haydee who are of course always brilliant. 

https://www.stuttgarter-ballett.de/spielplan/2017-11/

 

Also Stuttgart Ballet's Cranko Romeo and Juliet was filmed and was already broadcasted in Japan. It was starring Elisa Badnes and David Moore. I was surprised there were so few dancers that I know in the other roles. 

[Sim]

JMHopton yes, it was Yasmine as Olga and Matthew Ball as her Lensky.  This was the first real view of their partnership and they were so impressive that it led to their casting in R&J.  And we all know what happened there!  👏😳

[Alice Shortcake]

20 hours ago, MAB said:

I've DVD's of ballets I've never seen live and it whets my appetite to actually see the works onstage.  The Cranko estate is missing a trick.

 

I couldn't agree more! Watching a performance on DVD and seeing the same production live are two completely different experiences. The argument that making recordings available will have an adverse effect on ticket sales seems absurd to me, yet it's still trotted out by the National Theatre despite the fact that the RSC and the Globe have been selling DVDs for years.

[Anna C]

Thank you so much for all the responses.  If a DVD is finally forthcoming then that is wonderful news.  I've only seen the ballet once at the ROH - my first and last time in the Amphi  - and even up there, the emotion came off Nuñez and Soares in waves.  It was incredible.  Marianela seemed to be crying immediately after the final pdd and Thiago was actually holding her up.  

 

The thing that the powers-that-be don't seem to understand is that having a DVD of a great performance does not stop fans going to the ballet in person, or affect ticket sales.  All it means is that in the years between runs, we can relive the wonder in the comfort of our own home, which as MAB said, merely whets the appetite for the next performance.   

 

Crucially for those of us with children, it also means that if your child is too young for a particular ballet but wants or needs to see it before it reappears in the repertoire, having a DVD to watch is perfect.  Of course it's not a substitute for watching live performance, but it's undoubtedly better than nothing.  

[Sim]

And some performances just needed to be recorded for posterity and weren't, which I think is a crime against ballet. I am thinking particularly of Alina/Johan,  and any performance of the piece that had Jason Reilly as Onegin.   Such a great shame to deprive future generations of these superlative interpretations, that still give me goosebumps whenever I remember them.

[Two Pigeons]

I have great memories of Patricia Ruanne, Natalia Makarova and Eva Evdokimova amongst others which I am sorry were never recorded.  However, the one cast I did see a few times and dearly wish most I could have had a recording was Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun with Peter Schaufuss as Lensky.  I have little doubt that more recent casts may be more accomplished but I felt the real connection to Cranko's intentions when I saw them.

 

P.s.   yes Janet, I know you saw Wolfgang Stollwitzer but you don't have to rub it in!

Edited November 26, 2017 by Two Pigeons
P.s.

[MAB]

My favourite Tatiana will always be Ekaterina Maximova and my favourite Onegin was Kenneth Grieve with Manuel Legris as a close second.  It is a wonderful ballet and has had a number of outstanding interpreters, the lack of a DVD is a disgrace in my view.

[SheilaC]

Maximova's husband, the wonderful Vasiliev, did film one of her performances from the dress circle of the Coliseum, but obviously for personal reasons. Seymour was equally amazing. In the final act I was absolutely convinced she was going to give in to Onegin, even though I had seen the ballet so many times before so knew the plot.  The first time I saw it was with Haydee and Cragun and I couldn't believe how fast and seemingly spontaneous the final pas de deux was. I assumed it was very difficult to dance but years later Pat Ruanne insisted to me that the choreography was easy. Makarova filmed the main pas de deux with Reid Anderson for a TV series she did. I felt sorry for Alexander Sombart, her usual partner in it, and when I met him later he still was disappointed not to have filmed it with her: but maybe the reason why she was allowed to do it was because of Anderson's involvement.

[J_New]

3 hours ago, Sim said:

And some performances just needed to be recorded for posterity and weren't, which I think is a crime against ballet. I am thinking particularly of Alina/Johan,  and any performance of the piece that had Jason Reilly as Onegin.   Such a great shame to deprive future generations of these superlative interpretations, that still give me goosebumps whenever I remember them.

Jason Reilly IS Onegin for me. I remember the performance in London with Alina, and it was electric.

[Sim]

39 minutes ago, J_New said:

Jason Reilly IS Onegin for me. I remember the performance in London with Alina, and it was electric.

It sure was, Jacky!

[Angela]

Onegin was filmed three weeks ago at Stuttgart, with the following cast:

Tatiana - Alicia Amatriain, Onegin - Friedemann Vogel, Olga - Elisa Badenes, Lensky - David Moore, Gremin - Jason Reilly, Nurse - Marcia Haydée. No idea when the DVD will be published, but it should not take too long, I suppose.

There are two existing official recordings of the whole ballet, the first was made in 1976 at Stuttgart with Haydée, Heinz Clauss, Joyce Cuoco, Egon Madsen and Jan Stripling for German television. Another one was filmed in 1986 at NBoC with Sabina Allemann, Frank Augustyn, Cynthia Lucas, Jeremy Ransom and Serge Lavoie.

Then we have the two pas de deux filmed for the TV series "Ballerina" with Makarova and Reid Anderson in 1984. Alina Cojocaru and Filip Barankiewicz danced a pdd at the World Ballet Festival 2006, but I don't know if this recording is officially available.

 

[Angela]

There are some excerpts on Youtube,  please go there and look for:

Onegin. Few fragments

SMIRNOVA & LANTRATOV—Onegin, Final Pas de Deux

Cranko's Onegin - final scene with Diana Vishneva as Tatiana, Marcelo Gomes as Onegin

Onegin, Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca

"Онегин" Большой Театр 26.11.2016

Vishneva as Tatyana

1976 Onegin (Konstanze Vernon and Yuri Vamos)

Eugenio Oneguin | Pas de deux del espejo

 

 

[Fiz]

Alina made me cry.

[Anna C]

13 hours ago, Angela said:

Onegin was filmed three weeks ago at Stuttgart, with the following cast:

Tatiana - Alicia Amatriain, Onegin - Friedemann Vogel, Olga - Elisa Badenes, Lensky - David Moore, Gremin - Jason Reilly, Nurse - Marcia Haydée. No idea when the DVD will be published, but it should not take too long, I suppose.

There are two existing official recordings of the whole ballet, the first was made in 1976 at Stuttgart with Haydée, Heinz Clauss, Joyce Cuoco, Egon Madsen and Jan Stripling for German television. Another one was filmed in 1986 at NBoC with Sabina Allemann, Frank Augustyn, Cynthia Lucas, Jeremy Ransom and Serge Lavoie.

Then we have the two pas de deux filmed for the TV series "Ballerina" with Makarova and Reid Anderson in 1984. Alina Cojocaru and Filip Barankiewicz danced a pdd at the World Ballet Festival 2006, but I don't know if this recording is officially available.

 

 

Excellent news! Thank you, Angela.  I will pop to Youtube and look at those excerpts, too. ☺️

[Naomi M]

＞Alina Cojocaru and Filip Barankiewicz danced a pdd at the World Ballet Festival 2006, but I don't know if this recording is officially available.

 

This is not available. Also, at 2012 World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, Manuel Legris and Maria Eichwald danced the last pas de deux and the entire gala was filmed and broadcasted on television, but this and also Cranko Romeo and Juliet were cut off. (there was a special charity screening twice and those were screened, but only shown on that occasion.)