A Midsummer Night's Dream (HD DVD)

A Midsummer Night's Dream ballet. Choreography by George Balanchine. Music by Felix Mendelssohn. Based on the play by William Shakespeare. Directed 1999 by Kent Stowell and Francia Russell at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and recorded at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. Stars Patricia Barker, Paul Gibson, Seth Belliston, Julie Tobiason, Ross Yearsley, Lisa Apple, Jeffrey Stanton, Ariana Lallone, Batkhurel Bold, Kaori Nakamura, Charles Newton, Timothy Lynch, Louise Nadeau, and Oliver Wevers. Stewart Kershaw directs the BBC Concert Orchestra (Leader Cynthia Fleming).  Solo singers: Libby Crabtree, soprano, and Judith Harris, mezzo-soprano. Set and costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, lighting by Randall G. Chiarelli; directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. This is an HD DVD product. Released 2007, disc has 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound. Grade: A

This HD DVD title is still available, but it is now overshadowed by the Blu-ray version that Opus Arte published later. For more information, try our review of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which discusses both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray versions in detail.