Adolphe Adam: Giselle [Video]

Mats Ek made history with his groundbreaking 1982 revisionist version of Adolphe Adam's ballet +Giselle. Whereas the original work (a staple of the operatic canon) promulgated an unabashed romantic spirit, Ek did away with that element and reversed the ballet's central notion that love must always conquer death; unsurprisingly, this revisionism generated a massive amount of controversy among opera buffs and critics. Ek's production debuted on stage in 1982, but producers adapted it for television in 1987. The 1987 small-screen version appears in this release; it stars Luc Bouy as Albrecht, Ana Laguna as Giselle and Yvan Auzely as Hilarion. The Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo provides musical accompaniment, with Richard Bonynge conducting; Marie-Louise de Geer Bergenstråhle did the stage design; Måns Reuterswärd directed for television.