Thirty years ago the Bolshoi Ballet’s first trip to America was a political and artistic triumph and audiences queued for days to see these legends of ballet. Bolshoi in Vegas, a richly entertaining documentary, follows their disastrous 1996 tour in which they hoped to capitalize on this earlier success. The promoter has invested heavily in his dream of bringing the Bolshoi to Vegas, but the venture is beset with problems from the start and tensions mount. The Bolshoi are bewildered by their lukewarm reception, recalling that during their 1959 landmark tour, ecstatic audiences threw so many bouquets that they "walked on flowers all the way to our hotel".

Kirov in Petersburg traces the development of an institution, which is both irremediably altered and condemned to trade on its past glories. As Communism gives way to Capitalism and artistic values give way to commercial considerations, the Kirov Ballet’s chief choreographer Oleg Vinogradov’s final year in office is set against allegations of bribery and corruption. Through the deeply personal recollections of workers, dancers and critics, specially-filmed backstage footage and previously unseen archive material, a unique portrait emerges of the Kirov’s changing fortunes in the context of its awesome heritage.

"Macqueen’s cameras relish the ludicrous improbability of the Bolshoi in Vegas, confronting Russian artistic idealism with the desperate activities of the promoter and the lurid horror of the setting. As a brilliant footnote he intercuts news-clips from the Bolshoi’s first visit in 1959. In part two, Kirov in Petersburg, Macqueen probes cleverly beneath the brave front to reveal the traditional values that were once the Kirov’s mainstay." THE TIMES

"These two documentaries, for all their dance interest, are centrally about the plight and destiny of post-Soviet art, and are profoundly moving." THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Bolshoi in Vegas won:the 1997 International EMMY Award for Best Arts Documentary.
Special Commendation at the 1998 Grierson Memorial Trust Awards
Special Mention at the 1998 Golden Prague Awards.

Narrated by Clare Higgins.
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish .