On Christmas Eve, a little girl named Marie (Cohen) falls asleep after a party at her home and dreams herself (or does she?) into a fantastic world where toys become larger than life.
Director: Emile Ardolino
Stars: Darci Kistler, Damian Woetzel, Kyra Nichols, Macaulay Culkin, Kevin Kline.
George Balanchine ... choreographer
Peter Martins ... ballet master: in chief / choreography adaptor
Watched online; poor print, fuzzy.
Rated 5.8 by 1.4k+ IMDb voters. According to one IMDb user, this is not the full ballet in the proper sequence, and s/he's unhappy with MC's presence (it's distracting and not dancerly.)
I'm not a ballet fan, so I wouldn't know if this is complete or not. I recognized plenty of the music. The fact that the print was fuzzy makes evaluation difficult, but I didn't like all the focus on children, because they don't really dance. However, I did like the narration (KK), to let me know who's who and what is happening in the story.
I'm not a ballet fan, so I wouldn't know if this is complete or not. I recognized plenty of the music. The fact that the print was fuzzy makes evaluation difficult, but I didn't like all the focus on children, because they don't really dance. However, I did like the narration (KK), to let me know who's who and what is happening in the story.
The aforementioned 2003 reviewer recommended the "Royal Ballet's version or the more visually opulent Pacific Northwest Ballet's production". I think I found both ('85 & '86, respectively.) And I have a Baryshnikov/ABT '77 performance that I haven't watched yet.
Ardolino directed Dirty Dancing ('87), Chances Are ('89), 3 Men and a Little Lady ('90), Sister Act ('92), this and several TV movies/specials. He died this year at age 50.
distr. Warner, dir. Ardolino; 6-
