Annie went to see The Royal Ballet's Onegin in February and she had kindly offered to review the ballet.
Onegin
The Royal Ballet
Choreography : John
Cranko
Music: Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Pyotr
Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Marianela Nuñez as
Tatiana and Thiago Soares as Onegin in Royal
Ballet’s Onegin
Photo
Credit: Tristam Kenton
(www.roh.org.uk)
This ballet is an
adaptation of Pushkin's eponymous novel-in-verse, Eugene Onegin, a tragic tale
of selfishness, self-destruction, betrayal and unrequited love, set against a
backdrop of Tsarist Russia and its social conventions.
John Cranko
originally choreographed this work for Stuttgart Ballet in 1969, using a score
created by Kurt-Heinz Stolze using a selection of music taken from various of
Tchaikovsky's works.
Eugene Onegin is a
bored, arrogant dandy from St.Petersburg, who has recently inherited a country
estate from a deceased Uncle.He befriends an idealistic young poet, Lensky, and
is introduced to Lensky's fiancée Olga Larina, and her family. Olga is a flirtatious
and fun loving young woman, contrasting sharply with her sister Tatiana who is
a bookish, quiet girl full of dreams and romantic notions.
Tatiana is
attracted to the sophisticated and urbane Onegin, and even dreams of him, in
the first throes of awakening teenage passion, and she sends him a letter in an
open declaration of her love.
Tatiana's birthday
celebration arrives and the rather shallow Onegin shows his contempt and
boredom with the local, provincial gentry. In a quiet moment, he tells Tatiana
he can never love her, ripping up her letter in front of her eyes. Annoyed by
her heartbroken attitude, he proceeds to flirt with her sister Olga, inciting
the rage of his friend Lensky, who subsequently challenges him to a duel.
Tatiana and Olga
attempt to dissuade Lensky from his course of action but he cannot shake off
his romantic ideals and sense of betrayal. Onegin kills Lensky in the duel and
is overcome with despair.
Years later, Onegin
returns to St.Petersburg, disaffected with life, and at a society ball,
encounters Prince Gremin and his wife, a beautiful, sophisticated and assured
Princess.Onegin recognises in the elegant woman the girl he once rejected,
Tatiana. Onegin is overwhelmed with passion and desire, writing of his love to
Tatiana. On receiving the letter, Tatiana is conflicted between her love for
Onegin and her duty to her elderly husband. Onegin visits her in her boudoir
and tries to convince her to make a new life with him. Despite Tatiana's
confession to Onegin that she still loves him, she chooses duty and marital
vows, and ripping up Onegin's letter in front of him, she orders him to leave.
John Cranko's
choreography is reminiscent in many ways
of that of Kenneth MacMillan, full of lyricism and emotion, with plenty of
opportunities for the principals to characterise and really act the roles.The
dancing is full of swathes of adagio movement, elegant and beautiful, it may be
lacking the dramatic leaps and overemphasised hyper extension of other ballets,
but the graceful elegance of movement is perfectly suited to the setting and
story.
In Act III, the
ensemble choreography was melodic and pleasing, contrasting strongly with the
more earthy Peasant dances of Act I and the "Country Squire"
provincial dancing in Act II. The ensemble choreography may not be full of
dazzling moments yet the flowing expressive dances do create the atmosphere of
pre-revolution Russia in its various social spheres.
The character of
Eugene Onegin has been shaped by the constraints of Society and his own shallow
pursuits as a dandy, frequenting parties have developed his manner into a
bored, cold, emotionless sophisticate lacking empathy, always yearning for the unattainable.
Nehemiah Kish
danced the role of Onegin with precision and a pureness of line, combined with
assurance and elegance. In Act III, Kish effectively portrays the disaffected
man who becomes desperate in his love for the now unattainable Tatiana and his
despair and passion is well portrayed.
As Tatiana, First
Soloist Itziar Mendizabal gave a dreamy portrayal, a quiet portrayal of the
intelligent, romantic and initially emotionally open Tatiana. Where Mendizabal
really shone was in her transformation into the married Tatiana, older,
polished,sophisticated, shaped by experience and society, bound by duty but
tortured by her earlier love, yet strong and intelligent enough to ultimately
reject Onegin. I felt Mendizabal danced with grace and precision of movement
and developed the character well, partnering effectively with both Kish and
Johannes Stephanek (Prince Gremin).
Olga was
characterised perfectly by Beatriz Stix-Brunell, with a flirtatious lightness
and gracefulness which was a joy to watch, light footed, with beautiful lines,
a heartless flirt well acted! Nicol Edmonds danced Lensky with competence, his
yearning Act II pre-dual Solo was the highlight of his performance, full of
betrayed romanticism and wistfulness.
The development of
Tatiana's character is fascinating, through romantic and impulsive teenager
with wild and uncontrolled feelings, full of dreamy abandonment, transformed
into a woman with a cold, unromantic and sophisticated exterior, her love and
emotions hidden within. Onegin takes the opposite journey, from cold
sophisticate to desperate lover, but within, his selfishness still thrives:
externally they may seem different but deep down they are still the same
people.
At the beginning of
the ballet, Onegin holds the balance of power but by the end it is the strong
and intelligent Tatiana who holds the strength to command, the pivotal moment
in the ballet being the death of Lensky.
This is an
excellent staging by the Royal Ballet, fine costuming and set design and a
production made interesting by the almost restrained sense of tragedy.Some
memorable moments include the
Mirror/dream sequence of Act I, Lensky's melancholic solo in Act II , the
aristocratic ensemble dancing in Act III and the final Pas de Deux between
Onegin and Tatiana.
This is a ballet
for those who enjoy choreography in the MacMillan style, and those who enjoy
dance-drama with plenty of scope for dancers who have strong storytelling
capabilities: actor-dancers who take the roles and bring them to life.
Onegin is being
performed on a number of dates by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House,
London during February 2015.
by Annie ( @CorieltauviArt )
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