The Nutcracker

Horror · Music

A cinematic version of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation of Bram Stoker's gothic novel Dracula. Filmed in a style reminiscent of silent Expressionist cinema of the early 20th century (complete with intertitles and monochrome photography), it uses dance to tell the story of a sinister but intriguing immigrant who preys upon young English women.

Comedy · Family

When her barrettes mess up her pirouettes, an excitable, hyper-focused Black girl must power through the distractions -- and her mother's expectations -- to fly like the ballerinas do.

Music

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.

Music

"Music is a dream from which the veils have been lifted. It's not even the expression of a feeling, it's the feeling itself." This quote from Claude Debussy describes the musical world of this programme, made up of his own works and works by Maurice Ravel. In the choreography of Ravel's and Debussy's music by Jeroen Verbruggen and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, fluid lines, dream and atmosphere are strongly present.

Fantasy · Music

London's Royal Ballet performs two of Igor Stravinsky's classic works in this pair of performances choreographed by dance legend Nijinska. Zenaida Yanowsky and David Pickering star in "Les Noces," the stark, percussion-centric tale of a Russian peasant wedding that incorporates traditional folk music into its score. "The Firebird" stars Leanne Benjamin as the mythical creature who brings both a blessing and a curse upon her captors.

Music

A dramatic, energetic adaptation of Heinz Spoerli's ballet based on Grieg's Peer Gynt by the Zurich ballet. Marijn Rademaker is excellent as the title character, clearly telegraphing the emotional range required. Each of the characters and the dramatic scenes are supported by the orchestral passages and songs provided by Grieg; some spoken word passages extracted from the Ibsen play.

Music · Documentary

Film-ballet written by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The authors of the movie tell the story of the ballet's creation, as well as about various stage productions with the participation of outstanding performers of the role of Odette-Odile. The movie includes fragments of the ballet staged by choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

Music · Romance

The Sleeping Beauty remains, as Rudolf Nureyev often called it, the 'ballet of ballets'. It is the most accomplished and the most brilliant, as well as one of the most spectacular of the 19th century, and the most representative of the 'noble' style of classical dancing. Performed by Opera National de Paris in 2000.

Music

Clara is given an enchanted Nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. As midnight strikes, she creeps downstairs to find a magical adventure awaiting her and her Nutcracker. The magician Drosselmeyer transforms the drawing room into a battle between mice and toy soldiers. During the battle, Clara saves the Nutcracker’s life – so breaking a magical spell that turned him from a boy to a toy – and the Mouse King is defeated. In celebration, Drosselmeyer sweeps Clara and the Nutcracker off to the Kingdom of Sweets, where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy and take part in a wonderful display of dances. The next morning, Clara’s adventures seem to have been more than just a dream.

Music

The ballet tells the story of a peasant girl named Giselle whose ghost, after her premature death, protects her lover from the vengeance of a group of evil female spirits called Wilis

Fantasy · Family

A Finnish live action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Snow Queen. The tale centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl, Kai and Kerttu.

Comedy · Family

Two debt-ridden friends recruit a little league baseball team to participate in a tournament with a big cash prize.

Music

A choreography of Benvindo Fonseca to 19 songs performed live by the music group Madredeus and the dance group Madredeus of Contemporary Ballet of Lisbon. Filmed in Lisbon, at the 'Centro Cultural de Belém', in 29th of June 2006. Madredeus musical group is from Portugal but do not sing fado. His music combines influences of Fado and Portuguese folk music with classical music and popular contemporary music, especially Brazilian popular music (especially bossa nova). The founding members of the group were: Pedro Ayres Magalhães (guitar), Rodrigo Leão (keyboards), Francisco Ribeiro (cello), Gabriel Gomes (accordion) and Teresa Salgueiro (voice).

Music

Jerome Robbins considered the Paris Opera Ballet as his second home after the New York City Ballet. This production in his honour brings together works displaying the infinite diversity of his sources of inspiration and his genius on stage. Be it in the energy of the large-scale Glass Pieces or the intimate sweetness of Afternoon of a Faun and A Suite of Dances, there emerges that rare capacity to make bodies follow the flow in a living comprehension of music. As the celebrated ballet Fancy Free, a veritable theatrical portrait of an era, enters the repertoire, Robbins reveals another facet of his talent.

Music

When the beautiful dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor meet in secret, they swear eternal mutual fidelity. However, the High Brahmin, who is also in love with Nikiya, overhears them. He rushes to reveal their secret to the Rajah, who has decided that Solor will marry his beloved daughter Gamzatti. Recorded live, January 2013.

Comedy · Fantasy

One sunny afternoon, during a garden party, young Alice sees with surprise how the writer Lewis Carroll, a friend of her parents, unusually turns into a white rabbit, and immediately feels the irrepressible desire to follow him into a magical rabbit hole.

Music

"William Christie and Les Arts Florissants propel this exuberant production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's second opera to great heights. Andrei Serban's extravagant, highly baroque staging presents the four exotic love stories vibrantly. In 'Le Turc généreux' Osman sets free his captive, Emilie, whom he loves, so that she may be reunited with her former lover, Valère; 'Les Incas de Pérou' is all about the rivalry of the Inca Huascar and the Spaniard Don Carlos, both in pursuit of Princess Phani; 'Les Fleurs' offers a Persian love intrigue, as the Sultana Fatime tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and 'Les Sauvages' takes us to North America, where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima, daughter of a native chief, who prefers one of her own people." — from the DVD cover

Music

Part folklore, part opera-ballet, this féerie presents local pagan traditions on the day of the summer solstice and historical events from Cossack times to the more recent 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity.

Music

Characters from Haitian folklore come to life telling their story of ritual, ceremony and celebration. All wait to be overcome by the female spirit Erzuli. Who will be chosen?

Music

Two young lovers, offspring of the feuding Montague and Capulet families, value feelings above the past, pitting love and forgiveness against hatred and revenge.

Fantasy · Family

Following the death of their miller father, his eldest son inherits the mill, the middle one a donkey, and the youngest a cat. While initially disappointed, the lad soon learns not only that the cat can talk but is quite resourceful.

Family · Fantasy

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the animated classic, this animated and live-action blended special showcases the fan-favorite movie, along with new musical performances, sets and costumes inspired by the classic story.

Animation · Music

In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."

Animation · Family

The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.

Family · Comedy

Rowena "Ro" is a high-spirited 11-year-old hoping to add more spunk to her Christmas celebrations when her parents’ divorce is going anything but smoothly.

Drama · Family

After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.

Music · Family

A boy, no bigger than a thumb, manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.

Family · Animation

The Yowie Yahoo starts kidnapping musicians at a concert attended by Scooby and the gang in Vampire Rock, Australia.

Family · Fantasy

A young and unskilled fairy godmother that ventures out on her own to prove her worth by tracking down a young girl whose request for help was ignored. What she discovers is that the girl has now become a grown woman in need of something very different than a "prince charming."

Music · Comedy

When El, an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens, meets Kira King, the fiercely independent daughter of legendary basketball star and sneaker tycoon Darius King, sparks fly as the two bond over their mutual affinity for sneakers. With a little nudge from his best friend and a sprinkle of Fairy Godfather magic, El finds the courage to use his talent to pursue his dream of becoming a ‘legit’ sneaker designer in the industry.

Fantasy · Drama

In 1917, two children take a photograph, which is soon believed by some to be the first scientific evidence of the existence of fairies. Based on the true story of the Cottingley Fairies.

Comedy · Family

A contemporary musical version of the classic Cinderella story in which the servant step daughter hope to compete in a musical competition for a famous pop star.

Drama · Music

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.

Music · Comedy

When lively lounge singer Deloris sees her mobster beau commit murder, she is relocated for her protection. Set up in the guise of a nun in a California convent, she proceeds to upend the quiet lives of the resident sisters.

Family · Comedy

Sylvia's work increasingly takes her away from the three men who help bring up Mary, her daughter. When she decides to move to England and take Mary with her, the three men are heartbroken at losing the two most important women in their lives.

Fantasy · Comedy

Louie Jeffries is happily married to Corinne. On their first anniversary, Louie is killed crossing the road. Louie is reincarnated as Alex Finch, and twenty years later, fate brings Alex and Louie's daughter, Miranda, together. It's not until Alex is invited to Louie's home that he begins to remember his former life, wife and best friend. Of course, there's also the problem that he's attracted to Louie's/his own daughter.

Adventure · Fantasy

Meryl Streep stars as Alice in this production of Elizabeth Swados' musical, which was adapted from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Based on the acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production by Joseph Papp, Alice at the Palace follows Alice's surreal adventures with The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The Queen of Hearts, and The Cheshire Cat, among many others.

Horror · Music

A cinematic version of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation of Bram Stoker's gothic novel Dracula. Filmed in a style reminiscent of silent Expressionist cinema of the early 20th century (complete with intertitles and monochrome photography), it uses dance to tell the story of a sinister but intriguing immigrant who preys upon young English women.

Comedy · Family

When her barrettes mess up her pirouettes, an excitable, hyper-focused Black girl must power through the distractions -- and her mother's expectations -- to fly like the ballerinas do.

Music

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.