{"product_id":"talbot-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-3","title":"Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland","description":"\u003ca class=\"links\" href=\"album.jsp?album_id=640951\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlso available on Blu-ray\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Joby Talbot \u003cbr\u003e  ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Ballet in 2 Acts\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Alice – Lauren Cuthbertson\u003cbr\u003e  Jack \/ Knave of Hearts – Sergei Polunin\u003cbr\u003e  Lewis Carroll \/ White Rabbit – Edward Watson\u003cbr\u003e  Mother \/ Queen of Hearts – Zenaida Yanowsky\u003cbr\u003e  Father \/ King of Hearts – Christopher Saunders\u003cbr\u003e  Magician \/ Mad Hatter – Steven McRae\u003cbr\u003e  Duchess – Simon Russell Beale\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Royal Ballet\u003cbr\u003e  Royal Opera House Orchestra\u003cbr\u003e  Barry Wordsworth, conductor\u003cbr\u003e  Christopher Wheeldon, choreography\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Bob Crowley, designs\u003cbr\u003e  Nicholas Wright, scenario\u003cbr\u003e  Natasha Katz, lighting design\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Recorded live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 9 March 2011.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Bonus:\u003cbr\u003e  - Cast Gallery\u003cbr\u003e  - Documentary – Being Alice\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic\u003cbr\u003e  Sound format: LPCM 2.0 \/ DTS 5.1\u003cbr\u003e  Region code: 0 (worldwide)\u003cbr\u003e  Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish\u003cbr\u003e  Running time: 120 mins (ballet) + 30 mins (bonus)\u003cbr\u003e  No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  R E V I E W:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cb\u003eA stimulating production. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  It is a brave company that is prepared to take such a surrealist novel and turn it into a stage show. Where film can provide the visual trickery necessary to give visual magic, theatre machinery is cumbersome and pedantic in comparison. Yet the development of technical resources and video projection can help. With ballet, a large part of the stage must be kept free of obstructions to allow ballet routines to progress unimpeded. \u003cbr\u003e  To then faithfully transfer to a video medium without high level on-line visual trickery may not ideally help the viewer. So how then has Covent Garden fared in bringing about a stimulating production? \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Very well, in fact. The prologue where Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) is taking photographs of the family group works excellently. It is set in a realistic deanery garden. Bob Crowley’s backdrop painting in faded Victorian hues is in keeping. In this opening scene we are introduced to the personalities that later appear as stereotypes in the fantasy world Alice uncovers. The only odd thing in a private deanery garden is having a nurse wheel a perambulator across the stage as if in a busy street. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Some of the settings contain more subtlety than might at first sight be noticed. Monotone backdrops, the Cheshire Cat and a paper boat are styled on the engravings found in Carroll’s first edition book. As the ballet progresses the settings become more flamboyant and graphically modern. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Particularly stunning is the Playing Cards scene. Choreography and costumes strike just the right note. A clever routine with a segmented Cheshire Cat allows believable animation. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  As one might expect, the dancing is up to the exacting standards of the corps with a Covent Garden reputation. The problem of having Alice change size was well contrived and Lauren Cuthbertson’s acting is excellent. The character of the White Rabbit is extremely officious throughout I noticed, yet pales before the bombastic pomp of the Queen of Hearts (Zenaida Yanowsky). \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The orchestra plays well under the secure direction of Barry Wordsworth, a conductor not seen enough of nowadays. Talbot’s music has facets of talent and although classical harmony is mainly maintained, it is heavy, strongly percussive and is often reminiscent of the fight scene of West Side Story. One could hardly call the music melodious which is a pity as it misses out in appealing to the younger generation for whom the story is intended. I find the scoring unnecessarily heavy and is an ill fit with the elegance of classical ballet choreography. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The DVD is divided into play chapters, and contains a gallery photographs of the key dancers. It has the bonus of a well compiled and informative BBC documentary ‘Being Alice’. In it we see the planning, realisation and execution of the staging through the eyes of the principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson. Subtitles are provided in English, French, German and Spanish. In-depth background production notes with synopsis by David Nice are written in English, French and German. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  -- Raymond J Walker, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Opus Arte","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":49608067842328,"sku":"809478010562","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1900726.jpg?v=1777684425","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/talbot-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-3","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}