Last night I watched another production of the ballet I watched the night before, Frederick Ashton's hilarious full-length rendition of Herold's 18th century ballet, La Fille mal gardée, with a score tarted up wonderfully by the late Royal Ballet conductor John Lanchberry, who was married to a Royal Ballet star, Elaine Fifield.
In the 1980s Kultur released a performance of the ballet from the 1970s with Leslie Collier and Michael Coleman, conducted by Lanchberry. The DVD could use some cleanup, but it remains my favorite performance of the three I've seen. I watched this on Sunday night before the Kritzerland show.
Last night I watched the latest Blu-Ray with Royal Ballet star Steven McRae, which is quite good, only it's too dark. So many funny moments are lost because you cannot see what's going on, like the end of the storm that closes Act One. Frederick Ashton would have fired the current lighting designer at Covent Garden. The dancing's great, but I'm sticking with the adorable Collier and Coleman.