The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake

Showing live theater, opera, and ballet productions from world-renowned companies, such as the National Theatre, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera, on the big screen has become very popular.  As someone who loves the arts, I have been intrigued by this but I've never had the opportunity to see anything.  When I saw that my favorite ballet, Swan Lake, was going to be screened at a movie theater near me I decided to get a ticket.  It is a brand new production by the Royal Ballet using Tchaikovsky's magnificent score with choreography by Liam Scarlett and sets and costumes by John Macfarlane and it is simply stunning!  In the Prologue, the Princess Odette has been turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart.  In Act I, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with his tutor and friends when his mother, the queen, appears and condemns his carefree lifestyle.  She demands that he pick a bride at the ball the following night but he is weary of the responsibilities at court and escapes into the woods to go hunting.  In Act II, Siegfried ends up at a lake and sees a group of swans.  One of them, Odette, turns into a beautiful woman and Siegfried falls in love with her.  Rothbart tries to separate them and she tells Siegfried that she has been cursed and that it will be broken if someone promises to love her.  In Act III, assorted princesses from various lands come to Siegfried's ball and perform for him hoping to become his bride.  Rothbart has disguised his daughter Odile to look like Odette and she beguiles Siegfried into declaring his love to her.  In Act IV, Siegfried finds Odette at the lake and apologizes but the curse cannot be undone.  She chooses to die rather than remain a swan forever.  Siegfried retrieves her lifeless body from the lake in despair.  One change from versions that I have seen that really worked for me was having Rothbart be a member of the court because it gives a bit more motivation for his actions.  A change that I didn’t like as well was having Siegfried survive at the end because I think having him die with Odette is more dramatic.  Marianela Nunez is brilliant in the lead roles.  She is beautiful, graceful, and demure as Odette and sly, seductive, and playful as Odile.  The Pas de Deux with Vadim Muntagirov, a passionate Siegfried, in Act II is hauntingly beautiful as they fall in love and the one in Act IV effectively portrays her heartbreak and his remorse with the choreography.  I loved the set design, especially the opulent palace during Act III.  I felt like I was the Queen sitting in the royal box because the views of the stage were incredible.  I could see every facial expression and that added so much to my enjoyment of the story.  I loved seeing Swan Lake on the big screen and I will definitely be checking out more of these productions in the future.

Note:  I had the chance to see Swan Lake at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.  This was almost as good!