Kenneth Macmillan's Anastasia - Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky & Bohuslav Martin? [Region Free]

A hunched young woman with cropped hair, & wearing a grey institutional dress, stands awkwardly watching projected archive film of Imperial Russia before the 1917 Revolution. The image on-screen freezes on a close-up of the Tsar's youngest daughter. Her name was Anastasia, & the woman in grey believes she might be that Anastasia, whom History claims was murdered along with her entire immediate family in Siberia. This is the striking new beginning to the Royal Ballet's restaging of Kenneth Macmillan's 1971 three-act "Anastasia".Where to begin in reviewing the revival & the DVD? I've championed this ballet for the best part of half a century, ever since I saw the young Lesley Collier dance it at a matinee at Covent Garden in 1972. I was twenty, fell totally in love with her, the story, the music. I saw it (with both her & the title role's originator, Lynn Seymour) a further six times in the Seventies, & since then have been badgering the BBC to televise it & the Royal Ballet to make it available for home viewing.Now, at last, we have it on DVD (& Blu-Ray), but in a revised, streamlined production dating back to the mid-1990s, designed by Bob Crowley.I'm afraid it's the look of it (courtesy of Crowley) that makes it so different from the 1971 original. For example, instead of a realistic silver birch forest for the Act I Romanov picnic, we are aboard the Tsar's yacht......though frankly, we could be anywhere, so dark is the upstage on my DVD copy. (The original, marvellous sets took so long to change it was decided everything needed simplifying for this restaging.) Upstage there is, apparently, an askew golden funnel, perhaps hinting at the Ship of State's perilous condition in 1914 Russia? The Act II ballroom is what you'd expect in a ballet with music by Tchaikovsky, except for three enormous chandeliers at impossible angles, glowing like spaceships, as if Imperial Russia is about to be invaded by aliens rather than Bolsheviks.The final act, in a bare mental hospital ward, is exactly as I remember it from 1972, & as it was in 1968, when "Anastasia" began life in Berlin as a one-act ballet in which choreographer Kenneth Macmillan cast his muse, Lynn Seymour. (A modern performance of that version can be seen on Youtube.)Which brings us to the main problem with this ballet, which I ignored in the Seventies, but which was very apparent watching it on DVD today....the clunking gear change between the second & third acts, both musical & dramatic. Nanette de Valois (founder of the Royal Ballet) dubbed "Anastasia" a "flawed masterpiece", & although it was generally not popular with the critics at the time, it is now accepted.....if not as one of his greatest ballets.....at least as Macmillan on good form, with a wonderful double role for the ballerina who plays,first, the Tsar's youngest daughter, then the sad, mad Polish woman whose supporters claimed that she WAS Anastasia, having survived the massacre in 1918. (In 1968 many people genuinely believed she was, & Macmillan did not commit himself either way.)The third act is a study in memory & identity, as the claimant (named "Anna Anderson" by the press) is assailed by a bewildering swirl of memories (true? false?), film clips, electronic noise & then a Martinu symphony. This is the great part of the ballet, & Natalia Osipova is utterly wonderful in it.By comparison, the first two acts are conventional & lightweight, the first a pastiche of Frederick Ashton's style (notably "Enigma Variations"), the second of any Petipa ballet you care to mention. They do, however, contain some wonderful dancing, notably the Act I pas-de-six scarf dance, performed here with gossamer-light delicacy by the female leads.The playing of the two Tchaikovsky symphonies for these acts is first rate, conducted with truly Slavic panache by Simon Hewett, though I noticed the first one was "trimmed" somewhat.(Perhaps "Anastasia" would work better with MORE trimming & editing! The first two acts are not comfortable bedfellows with the third.)Macmillan was planning to revise "Anastasia" just before his untimely death, & this production by his widow & designer Crowley was intended to reflect his intentions.I've already indicated my dislike of the new (well, 1990s) sets, & I have to say the whole thing seems more rushed & perfunctory than I remember it. Lovely though it is, both musically & visually, nothing much happens in Act 1 anyway,and here it happens in a less leisurely, less picnic -like way! Likewise the conclusion of Act II, where the revolutionaries storm the Winter Palace, happens far too quickly & is badly lit. (Historical point: they actually just walked in unopposed, & certainly didn't set it on fire.)The women's new costumes, all crochet lace & Edwardian elegance, are very stylish, but the young officers could look smarter.I like the various ethnic costumes at the ball in Act II, everything from Poland to Georgia, reflecting the vast size of the Russian Empire.And the leading lady herself? With her huge eyes, astonishing athleticism & Kevin Bacon mouth, Osipova is an Anastasia to admire & pity, particularly in Act III. Coached by her 1990s predecessor in the role, Viviana Durante, she is, I think, the first genuine Russian to play the role. She seems to have added little hand-ography touches of her own, & why not?The rest of the cast is dependable if undistinguished, though I liked Marianela Nunez as the Tsar's former ballerina mistress, & Christina Arestis as the truly regal Tsarina. Thiago Soares' youthful Rasputin seemed neither powerful nor dangerous. (Historical points: here he is a figure Anastasia fears, whereas in reality all of the Tsar's family loved him; also, he was murdered in 1916, a year before the Revolution.)The acting by the assorted nurses, visitors & ghosts at the asylum was very impressive.So......not as good as I thought it back in 1972, but then it's not really the same production apart from the choreography & the third act.And "Mayerling" it isn't. Nor is it "Manon". On the whole the choreography is tame by Macmillan standards, as though he was treading water after taking over at the Royal Ballet. Rather like Russia was in 1914.But it's WONDERFUL to have it at all!

Missed seeing it by Royal Ballet and have always been fascinated by the Story,,,So was delighted to be able to buy it on Blu ray,,,, THOUGH I ENJOYED THE DISC, I found the last movement utterly cold and mystifying in its darkness,,,and to tell the truth,its misery ,, the third time I matched it,,, I ended it when the last movement--came on---I find the Ballet conflicted with the form of a Classical Ballet style --- with a ending danced in a contempory fashion,with some strange choreography......,

SUperb!!! Just love it!!!!

Impressive version of this story. The last part is not for children. But my daughter enjoyed the first parts.

Sit back and enjoy

Great film and good fast service

Stunning! Technically excellent as well.

Good service. An enjoyable ballet.