everylevel of this production, from choreographer to the dancers to the orchestra are genius; although, not for bourgeois philistines- breathtaking.

Breathtaking! Stunning!

Evocative music...creating and contrasting the various moods of the performance...jarring dissonant pieces of the betrayal scenes went effectively against the boisterous music of the mother/son play scenes as well as the Cat Stevens tracks for the country bumpkin Levin who seemed like the salt of the earth kinda character who, in my opinion, stole the show! The dancing was seamless, fluid and breathtaking...I didn’t connect much with Vronsky or Alexei...but I did see how their personalities evolved from start to end. I definitely did not get why Anna’s son was a grown adult who was bigger than her wearing kids clothes. It was weird. I get that maybe the role was to complicated for a child, but it could have been simplified to suit an actual child. Overall I loved this performance. Hats off to the colour scheme, the scenery and props. I felt they were simple which allowed me to focus on the emotions, storyline and dancing styles of the performers.

I think the ballet is too long but then the book is no novella. This is a massive undertaking to bring Anna Karenna’s life to the stage, unfolding it as a ballet. If and only if you’ve read the synopsis will you make sense of it. There is always lots going on, and the different story lines seem overwhelming IF you don’t know the story. It kept me interested and the dancers really gave it their all. I did not think the tiny train in the death scene was realistic. I’d like to have seen a backdrop of a train. I suppose we were supposed to be seeing the tragedy through the child’s eyes but that somehow didn’t work for me. I have seen two casts so far. Svetlana is really believable as Anna. A striking performance, danced with the intensity and emotional scope the role demands. Would liked to have seen her dance again with Evan McKie though. I would recommend seeing this production for sure, though children would not want to sit that long I don’t think.

A lot of very strange choices — modern Russia but still Many of the scenes contain characters walking around or appearing in the background that don't belong and it's quite unclear as to There's a lot of unnecessarily long scenes, e.g. lacrosse game, harvest (why are they using scythes…?) Awkward adult dressed up in a kid's clothing as Anna's son… Random farmer boy in leather pants appearing all the time in ways that don't make sense

This is unfortunate as I was looking forward to seeing Anna Karenina by the National Ballet. This one is very difficult to follow with all characters seem to be having an affair. The props were boring; costuming so simple. Although the dance technique is there especiallly from the principal male and female ballet dancers, the rest seems to be doing some sort of exercise and body movement. Tanya Howard is superb. It brightens my otherwise unhappy mood whenever she comes on the stage. I saw a couple of patrons who left in the middle of the first act; many did not come back after the intermission. I was thinking of leaving as well but decided to brave it until the end as I have never left a ballet show halfway through. Lots of empty seats around my orchestra area towards the end. What a waste. Please do not mess with a good classical ballet.