Scottish Ballet - The Snow Queen on tv and in theatre

[jm365]

If people might have found R & J difficult to follow - just try the Snow Queen!  I had absolutely no idea who that little thief was, or why we found ourselves suddenly in a gipsy encampment.  And why a circus in Act One?  I stuck it out and rushed to Google the moment it was over.  Maybe the BBC was the one at fault for not providing some sort of introduction - or maybe Scottish Ballet for not insisting.  Apart from that, I quite enjoyed it!!

[San Perregrino]

45 minutes ago, jm365 said:

If people might have found R & J difficult to follow - just try the Snow Queen!  I had absolutely no idea who that little thief was, or why we found ourselves suddenly in a gipsy encampment.  And why a circus in Act One?  I stuck it out and rushed to Google the moment it was over.  Maybe the BBC was the one at fault for not providing some sort of introduction - or maybe Scottish Ballet for not insisting.  Apart from that, I quite enjoyed it!!

For no particular reason I  thought to check the Scottish Ballet website 2 mins into the programme which has a synopsis of the story. Without that I’d have been completely lost and wondering why a character with a strong resemblance to Dora the Explorer was central to the story. No way would I have identified her as the Summer Princess.

[Richard LH]

I was looking forward to this as perhaps some sort of magical fairytale ballet, and I had printed off a synopsis in anticipation. It didn't make much difference ....unfortunately, for me,  the ballet felt pretty lifeless and flat. The main dancers did their best but the choreography and music didn't really inspire me, there seemed little real sense of drama, or humour on the other hand, the staging seemed cramped, the period settings weird, and the costumes unflattering....Kai's knitted jumper, and Gerda's red jacket, over her dress, rather incompatible with graceful upper body movement. Plus, as prs69 described, "Dora the Explorer".

Such a shame when you think of what other wonderful ballet might have been screened instead....

Edited January 6, 2020 by Richard LH

[zxDaveM]

The original showing was BBC Scotland (on Christmas Eve) - so showing their local, national company's current, winter themed ballet made sense. So not sure what other wonderful ballet you had in mind for them to screen. BBC4 then just repeated.

I rather enjoyed it myself, I can't deny - I actually quite liked the Rimsky-Korsakov music, and the costumes didn't offend (they were in tune with the Winter festival feel I thought). Perhaps the 'lifeless' feel was down to the lighting, which made much of the background gloomy (and so also giving a cramped feel to it) - for me, the same thing happens in RB's R&J when screened from the stage. It probably looked much better when in the theatre, in that respect. As for the dancing, whilst not blazingly original choreography, there were some lovely pdds for the leads, some strong solos, and I loved the 'frost' scene in Act 2.

[maryrosesatonapin]

I loved the music and thought the overall production was fresh and engaging!

[alison]

My recorder decided not to - so the only part I've seen is the latter part, when I realised and turned the TV on.

[Beryl H]

I recorded this and think I might like it more when I see it again, firstly for some reason I thought the music was by Tchaikovsky (perhaps because it so often is, so well done for using Rimsky Korsakov), couldn't work out the girls other than the Snow Queen, and thought the stage looked over-crowded, but liked the second half when it changed to the ice scene, the choreography then seemed to improve, and there was a lovely pas de deux and ending, a fairy-tale with a modern feel.

[ajf]

I went to see a performance of this while I was in Edinburgh over the holidays. It worked very well as a family Christmas ballet and the audience, many of whom appeared to me to be annual ballet goers, were thoroughly appreciative of the evening. There was a page long plot synopsis both on the  free cast sheet and in the programme, and so the audience were very clearly directed as to who was who and what was happening on the stage, particularly the change of the  Summer Princess to Lexi, the pickpocket (aka Dora the Explorer). In the theatre, the plot fizzed along and there was lots of action and dancing rather than the rather stop-start nature of some more classical Christmas ballets with their divertissements. I did not feel that the company was on top form with regard to their technique in the performance that I saw as I have seen them dance much better but it is difficult time of year with many performances in a short space of time.

 

The programme also explained that the decision to amend the plot slightly from a more traditional version led to their being three strong female principal characters each in charge of her own destiny which felt very appropriate for current times and a marked change from a number of other recently made ballets.

 

There were a couple of issues for me with the storyline that could have been made clearer, and indeed maybe after this run as it is a new ballet this year.

- in the marketplace scene in the first act, why did the Snow Queen first appear when freezing time in a long white dress and then the second time, and thereafter, was in the tutu costume from the opening scene?

- in the last scene, why did the Summer Princess and the Snow Queen independently throw away the knife and ice-shard that they had been brandishing, and did they fall or were they pushed through the enchanted mirror at the end, and indeed what happened to them after they fell?

 

The sets worked very well in the theatre.  The darkness that has been referred to was not in evidence in real life but I can see that the industrial setting (think Glasgow Gorbals) for the market place and the forest in which the fortune-teller lives with the bandits may not have translated well to film, whereas the forest and the ice palace were much brighter. The design was by Lez Brotherston ably helped by Paul Pyant as the lighting designer.

 

On costumes although Lexi/Dora could have done with losing her hat as it just obscured her face whle dancing, particularly for those higher than the stalls level, the costumes of the everyday folk seemed to me to be in keeping with where and how it was set. The red jacket over the dress for Gerda did not bother me but I did feel she might have been a bit chilly in her floaty dress and jacket when everyone else was much more bundled up for the cold weather.

 

The stage felt full rather than over-crowded but the stage at the Festival Theatre is not enormous, certainly nothing like the Coliseum or the Opera House.

 

I was not overwhelmed by all the choreography but as family ballet I regard it as a success for Scottish Ballet.

[alison]

Take us home for the holidays!

WATCH YOUR SB FAVOURITES AGAIN AND AGAIN

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[AnneL]

Just thought I would add to this thread to say the performance has been released on dvd and I received a copy as a birthday present. I agree that it would be hard to know what was going on without a synopsis! Fortunately there is one in the dvd package. I think it was an enjoyable winter ballet , making a change from the usual one that begins with an N. But the choreography was perhaps a bit repetitive.