Rating: 
Summary: Buy this DVD "pure" entertainment
Review: I must admit, I dont have any of Sarah Brightman's music. This is actually my first purchase of her. I was absolutely mesmerized by her voice and talent. My 3 year old (who never stops moving) actually sat down with me to watch this concert. The choreography is very good! Her voice is unbelievable. I especially enjoyed "The Titanic" love song sung by Sarah in Italian..I cannot say anything bad about this DVD. I have a upscale sound system and this DVD sounds as good and looks as good as any Hollywood DVD Ive seen. I highly recommend this artist for people looking for entertainment of pure talent. We are very lucky to have this singer in our lifetime! She is touring right now on her new CD "La Luna"..I am putting more order in for that today!
Rating: 
Summary: not doing herself justice
Review: I have been in love with Sarah Brightman's voice since she wowed the crowds in "Phantom" -- can recollect hearing the score on CD and being blown away by the first legit soprano whose timbre I actually liked -- a voice like crystal.This concert CD was a disappointment to me ... and evidently to some of the audience too -- if you look closely at the pan shots across the crowd, there are a number of people sitting grimly with their arms folded, while a noisy claque of die-hard fans provides most of the applause. Ms Brightman's voice is wearing pretty well, all things considered -- I've heard worse aging divas. That's not intended to be snotty, by the way, it's just a fact of life: singers are athletes, and those hard-worked voices lose their flexibility and range over the years. I'm actually astonished to hear that crystal quality still emerging untarnished, after 20 years of the damage that career singers do to their vocal equipment. The FX and mixing didn't do her any favours in the first half; there's far too much reverb and she's mixed too low, vanishing into the (also over-reverbed) string mush at times. Many of the arrangements descend into mush generally -- that orchestral/percussive New-Age-Easy-Listening-Pop style that now graces the end credits of most Disney moves and about one third of the FM dial. It's a pretty noise, but it's background noise -- Sarah does Enya. Her live orchestra ends up being used like, and sounding like, synthesized strings. But what bothered me most about the concert video, I think, was the singer's apparent attempt to madonna-fy her image. Sarah Brightman, with her sweet Victorian face and elf-locks, is just not convincing as the femme-fatale/bad-girl she tries to be on this video. Her up-market strip-tease gestures and "sexy" writhing, particularly in the opening sequence, are depressing; no one with that voice, still magnificent even at the beginning of its decline, needs to do the slut-strut to sell her sound. I'd like to see her claiming the dignity and poise of a mature diva, not doing this wannabe-MTV stuff. It's bloody embarrassing. Thankfully, by the end of the show she seems to have recovered a little dignity (not quite so many fake hula gestures and hip waggling). I had the same problem with Bernadette Peters' recent concert video -- these women, with the power and quality of their voices and their distinguished careers, really don't need to be flashing the cleavage and doing the (slightly modified) bump-n-grind to keep the audience's attention. For Sarah B the kittenish little girl act, and the wannabe sex-symbol act, are Dorian-Gray-ish at this point. The breathy lounge-singer/infantile voice that she uses on the pop numbers may be a good way to kick back and rest her larynx between the demanding numbers, but it's a cheap cop-out for a singer with her training and her power. Her soulful/loving/overly-selfconscious lingering glances straight into the camera lens reflect the same unfortunate (and cheapening) emulation of the worst in pop culture. She's relating to her own *image* more than to the music or her own sound, and I find this incredibly distracting and rather sad. Lastly, I can't help but feel an uneasy twinge when I see a white international superstar bring on a token line up of "native costume" (Hollywood style) Africans to back up her penultimate number, in front of what looks like a mostly white audience, in Sun City South Africa. OK, a good thing the backing choir is getting a gig out of this, but it adds to an impression I get (from the interviews that surround the show, from the style of the show, etc) that South Africa is just a picture-postcard backdrop for a white-girl superstar. At least when Paul Simon was ther he he helped to launch the career of LBM. I don't foresee any careers being launched from the chorus line behind Sarah. Well heck, her voice is still great. Skip the pop numbers, and enjoy the opera highlights and the Phantom reprise... I would like to see a formal operatic highlights concert from Sarah Brightman, at least once, before her voice really starts to fade. This pop mush will be painfully dated soon (already is) -- I wish she would document for all time the startling, sweet and pure quality of her legit opera voice. There is not a legit soprano on earth I enjoy as much.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad DVD transfer
Review: I first saw her PBS special on my flight to Japan. I got kind of mesmerized watching her on the small LCD display and listening to her with the headphone. I ended up watching it three times. I couldn't wait to get the DVD to see it on my home theater. Boy was I disappointed. I am not talking about her performance but the quality of the video transfer. It looks as though they filmed the concert off of somebody's TV. The picture is fuzzy and everytime they show her closeup, you can see the scan lines on her face. I have a progressive scan Toshiba DVD player with 55inch Mitsubishi HD ready TV. Watching most DVD movies on it is like watching the actual film, sharp without a hint of scan lines, but not this DVD. It's too bad her record company didn't put much care into making the DVD as the people who created the stage for her show.
Rating:
Summary: I love Sarah
Review: She is the most beautiful & talented performer I have ever seen. Being italian she brought back many memorie's of my grandparent's & parent's, who were very much into music,particularly opera. I cannot wait to receive this video. She is the best. P.Russano Ft.Lauderdale, Fl.
Rating: 
Summary: Graceful, but.....
Review: Now, being a fan of Sarah Brightman for just over two years, I went out to get a little too many of her stuff. I would classify her as an artistic middle-aged girl who doesn't want to just limit herself to one type of music, so she'll do whatever she damn well pleases. I would say that I was simply floored by her unique ability to go all the way in music. She should land a duet with Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, or perhaps even Whitney Houston one of these days. I thought this concert, her second video release, was good (the special effects were high-flying), and at times better (take the Dive and Phantom sequences) than the first one, but since Andrea Bocelli was not here, sorry. The first rocks because of him. I will be getting Sarah's most recent CD very shortly.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthwhile Addition To Any Collection
Review: There is no denying Sarah Brightman's enormous talent; few professional singers can create, adapt, perform, and interpret music the way Miss Brightman does. If nothing else, this video displays her ability to leap from pop (First of May) to bona fide opera (Nessun Dorma) which has characterized her career in recent years. The best selections from Eden are present and accounted for here, thankfully sans lip-synching. "Nessun Dorma" is particularly stunning, and her Phantom pieces are in full form (for the most part). This performance of the Overture includes a very well-done introduction ("...what horrors wait for me in this, the Phantom's opera...") that reminds us of her early successes with the musical. She slides a bit into the higher notes of "Il Mio Cuore Va," but the song is a crowd-pleaser nonetheless. Her trademark Italian works beautifully with this piece, as does the classical orchestration, vis-a-vis Celine Dion's twang and the drum beat in the English version. The performance, however, is not flawless. First and foremost, I find Miss Brightman's current hairstyle distracting to say the least. I preferred the more sophisticated polish of her 1997 concert at the Royal Albert Hall. But if she feels that her appearance contributes some inextricable character to the concert, far be it for me to deny her that. Secondly, the selections from "DIVE" are grotesquely out of place here. Though the staging is spectacular, that particular album is not her best work, and she would be well-served to distance herself from it. Why not replace them with some of the songs from the oft-overlooked "FLY"? "A Question of Honour" would sound superb with this particulat choir and orchestra, who, by the way, are phenomenal. Thirdly, "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" needs some work. Miss Brightman leaves the entire orchestra hanging more than once while she warbles her way up and down the octaves. My final comment does not necessarily concern just this concert, but rather her recent performances in general. No live rendition of "Time To Say Goodbye" has matched that on the album, with Bocelli or otherwise (incidentally, I prefer the solo version showcased here). She seems to be straining, but that could be attributed to the fact that she almost always performs this piece either very late or last in her lineup. Still... All in all, the concert is a success in spite of its relatively minor flaws. Miss Brightman's talent will certainly shine through again in her tour for "LA LUNA," and hopefully then we'll see some of the highlights from this wonderful performance.
Rating:
Summary: out of this world!
Review: wonderful, I've always felt like I've been placed under a spell when I hear Sarah Brightman sing. I don't think her expressions are very odd, it's her own style and I respect that. It's refreshing to see that she doesn't copy or follow what other artists are doing and it's good to know how she's so passionate about her work.
Rating:
Summary: A masterful performance!
Review: I saw One Night in Eden and it was the most incredible concert I have ever been to (and I've seen Andrea Bocelli in Miami too). Well, Sarah Brightman performs her songs just as beautifully as she did on the CD, you actually feel like they are just playing the CD and she's lip synching it all. Anyways, her voice on this particular arrangement of work is rather breathy but still has an amazing tambor and quality that is a remnnant of her beautiful coloratura soprano from Phantom of the Opera. It's a style she's employing not a lack of vocal strength and training as has been previously written. Sarah Brightman is one of the most talented performers ever to have stepped onto the stage. She does have odd facial expressions but so does Cecilia Bartoli and it does not take away from the beauty of her voice. She truly is a marvel and feat of musical expression. This video is definitely worth buying because it's an arrangement of her most beautiful songs from Eden and other work (Dive, PTO, First of May).
Rating:
Summary: She's going downhill, folks...
Review: Sarah, honey... STOP LOOKING AT THE CAMERA! This was recorded LIVE IN CONCERT! This concert is lovely to look at. I would watch it on mute, listen to Maria Callas, and try NOT to look at Sarah's face (what's with the goggle-eyed expressions! ) I got to see this performance live. PERFECT example of a performer who was once on the road to something great, but has let herself, her voice, and her technique go. Her voice is breathy, pushed, and frankly, very unpleasant. Sarah, darling... please try (just TRY) to his a high note without jerking your head to the side and standing up on your toes. AND LOSE THE HEAD MICROPHONE! THIS ISN'T "RENT". As usual, Sarah Brightman is an absolute artist who comes up with many new creative ways to make music, and her vision is truly beautiful. But she simply has not got the voice anymore. And I am probably her biggest fan you'll ever meet, so this info is all coming from someone who REALLY appreciates her as an artist... but as a singer, I REALLY wish she would work on her voice a bit. STILL... I'd definitely recommend buying this VHS at least.
Rating:
Summary: No words to describe it!
Review: Not only is Sarah Brightman beautiful, but her voice is incredible! This video brings you back in time to the last twenty years of her career. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Frank Peterson. Watching it once will wanna make you see it again and again! I really recomend it if you are a fan! It's the next best thing after seeing her live.
| 
