Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate ballet. Music by Joby Talbot. Book and choreography 2022 by Christopher Wheeldon after the novel by Laura Esquivel. Stars Francesca Hayward (Tita), Laura Morera (Mama Elena), Mayara Magri (Rosaura), Meaghan Grace Hinkis (Gertrudis), Marcelino Sambé (Pedro), Matthew Ball (Dr. John Brown), Christina Arestis (Nacha), Cesar Corrales (Juan Alejandrez), Gary Avis (Don Pasqual), and Isabella Gasparini (Chencha). Alondra de la Parra conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Valsko Vassilev). Solo guitar Tomás Barreiro; guest singer Siān Griffiths. Designs by Bob Crowley; lighting by Natasha Katz; video designs by Luke Halls. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2023, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

As I write, this new production has been seen only a few times in London at The Royal Opera and in New York at the American Ballet Theater. It’s pretty impressive to see how quickly this has been published in Blu-ray for the rest of us to enjoy. Here’s a trailer:

Buy on Amazon

What's New

Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.