Search - Lehar - The Merry Widow / Kain, Meehan, National Ballet of Canada on DVD

Performance WOW, video ugh

Ralph Paulsen | Los Angeles, Ca United States | 12/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have the LaserDisc of this performance, thought the DVD would better showoff the superb dancing, and costumes, not so, the transfer is really bad, the contrast is to high blacks are so black that you can't see the shadings, anything with black in it becomes a blob, colors with subtle shadings, and shimmers in the LD, come across on the DVD as if they are made of plastic, the 5.1 surround sound is not among the best, but not as bad as the video, if you don't mind bad looking transfers, once you get past it, the performances are exceptional, stunning, and every other word there is for GREAT, I could, and have sat and repeated the LD 2 and 3 times in one night, not so the DVD, even after adjusting the brightness, contrast, and color controls, this disc does not measure up to the LD, but if I had no LD for comparison I would probably be happy with this DVD, after all the preformances are what really matters."

Successful adaptation of Lehar operetta

Hawkeye | Tulsa, Oklahoma | 04/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just as Romeo and Juliet works in both opera (Gounod) and ballet (Prokofiev), so The Merry Widow works in both genres. The odds are, of course, improved by the use of Lehar's music in both. The son of a band master, Lehar will not be confused with Beethoven, but those who love to wallow unashamedly in sentimental romance will appreciate the wholesomeness of his music. And the ballet offers something the operetta does not: a visual grace which reveals another dimension to the music. My copy is in full-screen format and suffers from no recording problems. You don't have to choose between operetta and ballet-- you need both."