Blu-ray

Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Queen (Scottish Ballet)

Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Queen (Scottish Ballet)

Constance Devernay (The Snow Queen); Bethany Kingsley-Garner (Gerda); Andrew Peasgood (Kai); Kayla-Maree Tarantolo (Lexi / The Summer Princess); Bruno Micchiardi (Ringmaster); Madeline Squire (Acrobat); Roseanna Leney (Acrobat); Evan Loudon (Strongman); Alice Kawalek (Ballerina); Grace Horler (Mazelda, the Fortune Teller); Jerome Anthony Barnes (Zac, the Bandit Leader); Gillian Risi (Begona, the Musician);

"Scottish Ballet’s Christmas present to us all is the world premiere of a Snow Queen...a truly memorable high." (The Herald ★★★★★)

Roland Petit: Notre-Dame de Paris (Teatro alla Scala)

Roland Petit: Notre-Dame de Paris (Teatro alla Scala)

Natalia Osipova (Esmeralda); Roberto Bolle (Quasimodo); Eris Nezha (Phoebus); Mick Zeni (Frollo); Maurice Jarre (Music); Paul Connelly (Conductor);

"Natalia Osipova...Her legs are at once ordinary and extraordinary for the ballet stage: not immediately striking but lightning-fast and explosive in their effects, not least the gravity-defying jumps she is famous for." (The Times)

Scarlett: Frankenstein (The Royal Ballet)

Scarlett: Frankenstein (The Royal Ballet)

Federico Bonelli (Victor); Laura Morera (Elizabeth); Steven McRae (The Creature); Bennet Gartside (Alphonse Frankenstein); Christina Arestis (Caroline Beaufort); Elizabeth McGorian (Madame Moritz); Meaghan Grace Hinkis (Justine Moritz); Alexander Campbell (Henry Clerval); Thomas Whitehead (The Professor); Guillem Cabrera Espinach (William Frankenstein); Sacha Barber (Young Victor); Skya Powney (Young Elizabeth);

"McRae’s portrayal is brilliant; his dancing is eloquent in its anguish, and we sense every beat of his lonely, vengeful heart...." (The Observer)

Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (The Royal Ballet)

Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (The Royal Ballet)

Lauren Cuthbertson (Alice); Sergei Polunin (Jack / The Knave of Hearts); Edward Watson (Lewis Carroll/ The White Rabbit); Zenaida Yanowsky (Mother / The Queen of Hearts); Steven Macrae (Mad Hatter);

"...an imaginative treatment of a favourite story. There are extraordinary, eccentric sets and special effects; colourful, larger-than-life, argumentative characters and extraordinary costumes." (Musicweb International)

Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (The Royal Ballet)

Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (The Royal Ballet)

Lauren Cuthbertson (Alice); Federico Bonelli (Jack/The Knave of Hearts); James Hay (Lewis Carroll/The White Rabbit); Laura Morera (Mother/The Queen of Hearts); Christopher Saunders (Father/The King of Hearts); Steven McRae (Magician/The Mad Hatter); Fernando Montano (Rajah/The Caterpillar); Gary Avis (The Duchess); Paul Kay (Vicar/The March Hare); Romany Pajdak (Verger/The Dormouse); Kristen McNally (The Cook); Tristan Dyer (Footman/Fish);

"The Royal Ballet's new season gets off to a phantasmagorical start - The Royal Ballet could hardly have chosen a more eye-popping or enjoyable production with which to launch its autumn season. And this is all the more gratifying given that the ballet in question is only six years old – a mere five in its current, three-act reincarnation. Cinematic but also unmistakably balletic, Joby Talbot’s complex, theme-driven score – coruscatingly orchestrated with the help of Christopher Austin – is full of magical surprises. Expertly aided and abetted by lighting guru Natasha Katz, designer Bob Crowley has had an absolute field day too, exploiting every means at his disposal – from puppetry to projection – to send us down the rabbit-hole with the heroine. Wheeldon, meanwhile, absolutely matches his collaborator’s contributions. This is a ballet that eloquently and respectfully reflects his Royal Ballet heritage (from its three-act structure, reliance on mime, and alternation of grand waltzes and intimate pas de deux, to its very Ashtonian reliance on largely cross-dressing comedy) while nevertheless feeling entirely 21st-century and absolutely its own thing. Together with dramaturge Nicholas Wright, he brings Alice even more to the fore than she is in the book, getting her involved in the action wherever possible, and delving deep into his choreographic box of tricks to bring each of the characters she encounters distinctively alive. Laura Morera (standing in for a sadly injured Zenaida Yanowksy) absolutely nails her twin roles as Alice’s mother and (supremely) the Queen of Hearts. Also deserving of plaudits are Fernando Montaño’s impossibly slinky Caterpillar, David Yudes’s spring-loaded Frog, and Gary Avis’s operatically OTT Duchess. But top marks go, above all, to Lauren Cuthbertson. As Alice, she avoids all the possible pitfalls of an adult playing a child, bringing pathos, wide-eyed innocence and matter-of-fact resourcefulness to the character, and never forgetting, amid all the elaborate stagecraft, to dance with great delicacy and impeccably classical precision. Wheeldon created the role on her, and it still feels like the part she was born to play." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★)

Talbot: The Winter's Tale (Royal Opera House)

Talbot: The Winter's Tale (Royal Opera House)

Edward Watson (Leontes ); Sarah Lamb (Perdita ); Zenaida Yanowsky (Paulina); Steven McRae (Florizel ); Federico Bonelli (Polixenes); Lauren Cuthbertson (Hermione );

"Christopher Wheeldon’s new three-act version of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is a triumph. " (The Telegraph)