Best of Swan Lake in Prague: worth it?

The short answer

It is not the full ballet. The booking page describes the entire story told in a selection of scenes, and the performance runs 105 minutes including a 15-minute interval. That makes it a highlights production: you meet Odette, Prince Siegfried, the sorcerer Rothbart and the black swan, Odile, but not every scene of a full-length staging. Its rating on the booking page is 3.9 out of 5 from more than 2,100 reviews, and the rest of this guide explains what sits behind that figure and who should book. The music is Tchaikovsky's throughout, and the draw is the dancing and the story.

What the ticket covers

What you buy is admission to a ballet at the Broadway Theatre on Na Příkopě. Cloakroom use and booster seats for children come with it, the booking page says, so dinner and drinks are your own plan. It names top dancers and soloists of leading Czech groups and mentions soloists of the Prague National Theatre. The page warns that the programme is subject to change, so the scenes on your night may differ from another night's. Neither flash photography nor video recording is permitted, and there is no dress code.

Read next: Seats, children and what to wear

What the reviews say

The booking page's reviews fall into a pattern. The lead's expressive dancing earns praise, and several dancers are said to have moving moments. The complaints concern expectations: a summary of recent reviews says some travellers wanted clearer information about the modest venue and the recorded music. One reviewer wished the theatre were better, a German reviewer who went in March says the audience was only about a hundred people, and a French reviewer found the venue badly signposted. The same summary still calls it a worthwhile cultural outing, and the booking page flags the evening as likely to sell out, so a date you like is worth holding early.

Highlights or full-length

Wikipedia says Swan Lake is generally presented in either four acts or, mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe, three acts and four scenes. A full-length staging by a national company gives each part its time, with a large corps de ballet. A highlights production keeps the thread of the story and trims the rest. That is why a first-timer can follow it, and why a ballet lover may feel that something is missing. The booking page does not list which scenes the evening includes, so read it as the story, not as a scene-by-scene promise.

Read next: Swan Lake, act by act

The ballet in a few lines

Wikipedia says Tchaikovsky composed Swan Lake in 1875 and 1876, and that its first production opened at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1877 without winning critics over. Most companies now base their versions on the 1895 revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, for which Riccardo Drigo revised the score. The booking page itself notes that much of the Swan Lake we know today comes from that 1895 revision. The story follows Odette, a princess turned into a swan, and Prince Siegfried, who swears to love her. Wikipedia adds that the same ballerina now commonly dances both the white swan Odette and the black swan Odile, so the two famous roles are often one dancer.

Why Prague has a claim to it

Prague has its own link with the ballet. Wikipedia says Julius Reisinger, the choreographer of the 1877 premiere, was born in Prague in 1828. Czech Wikipedia adds that the National Theatre in Prague staged a shortened lakeside act in February 1888, the first foreign stage to do so, and that Tchaikovsky saw it and wrote in his diary of an enormous success. The National Theatre staged the full ballet in four acts for the first time in 1907, Czech Wikipedia says. The guide to Swan Lake's Prague connection tells that story in full.

Read next: Swan Lake's Prague connection

The theatre

The Broadway Theatre lies under the Broadway arcade, which joins Na Příkopě and Celetná. It sits in the Broadway palace of 1938, designed by Bohumír Kozák and Antonín Černý. The theatre's own website calls it a modern theatre in the centre of Prague with up-to-date sound and lighting, and Czech Wikipedia says it mainly stages musicals and plays. Set your expectations for a working modern theatre, not a gilded opera house, and use the Broadway arcade as your landmark when you look for the door.

Read next: The Broadway Theatre on Na Příkopě

Seats and comfort

Choose a seat option when you pick a date. One Swan Lake reviewer bought VIP seats to be sure of a good view, and a reviewer of The Nutcracker at the same theatre says the extra cost for VIP was minimal and the closeness worth it. In a theatre of this size a closer category makes sense if you care about the dancers' faces. Allow time to find your row: one reviewer needed an attendant's help, and the cloakroom is included in the ticket. Booster seats for children are included too, so a younger child can see over the row in front.

Who it suits

It suits a first Swan Lake, because the story is told in full and the music is Tchaikovsky's. It suits couples who want one cultural evening in the Old Town, families with children aged three and over, who get booster seats, and travellers with a short stay who would rather not give a whole night to a ballet. One reviewer advises reading the story beforehand so that the scenes make sense, and the act-by-act guide on this site is written for exactly that. It also suits listeners who know the swans' music from elsewhere and want to hear it with the story that goes with it.

Who this isn't for

This is the wrong ticket for a full-length staging by a national company on a historic stage. It is also the wrong ticket if live orchestral music is essential to you, since a summary of reviews on the booking page mentions recorded music, or if you need one named dancer on one named night, because the programme is subject to change. If a full company is the aim, look at what the National Theatre's ballet is staging while you are in town; Wikipedia says it performs in the National Theatre, the State Opera and the Estates Theatre.

Choosing a date and booking

Booking takes two choices on the booking page, the date and the seat, because the ticket is admission only. Cancel more than a day before the show and nothing is charged; payment can also be left until later. The live price sits in the calendar in your own currency, so none is printed here. Undecided between this and the other Tchaikovsky ballet in the same theatre? The comparison guide lines them up.

Read next: Swan Lake or The Nutcracker in Prague?