Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – ABT launches its summer season with the welcome return of John Cranko’s reliably dramatic ONEGIN

• By drediman
• June 20, 2024
• No Comments

This week, American Ballet Theatre launched its month-long summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center with the welcome return of John Cranko’s Onegin. First staged in 1965 for the Stuttgart Ballet, the production is a reliably dramatic and efficiently plotted three-act story ballet based on Pushkin’s literary classic Eugene Onegin. Although the score is essentially an amalgamation of a number of musical compositions by Tchaikovsky — expertly arranged for the ballet by Kurt-Heinz Stolze — it includes none of the memorable music written by the composer for his operatic adaptation of the seminal Russian novel (perhaps to ensure that the ballet retains an identity all its own without sacrificing any of its “Russian-ness”?).

For those unfamiliar with the work, the story of Onegin is largely told from the point of view of Tatiana, a young woman who falls hopelessly in love with the ballet’s titular character, an aloof, self-centered Russian aristocrat who, only years later, realizes his love for Tatiana. Although Cranko’s choreography at times veers towards repetition, the piece has the potential to pop with the right cast. Luckily, on Tuesday’s opening night, veteran principals Cory Strearns and Christine Shevchenko were up to the task in the central roles of Onegin and Tatiana, respectively. In the title role, Stearns exudes a maturity and natural stoicism that’s ideal for the character. Shevchenko’s pensive, introverted Tatiana knows who she is from the beginning, which makes the repeated rebuttal of her love that much more heartbreaking. Both possess fantastic technique and deploy purposeful dramatic phrasing in their dancing, ably unlocking the drama in Cranko’s underlined choregraphy. As Onegin’s friend Lensky, up-and-coming soloist Jake Roxander nearly stole the show with his astonishing control and explosiveness. There’s a fevered spontaneity to his dancing — at least at this point in his relatively young career — that’s tremendously exciting to watch, even if his characterization isn’t (yet) quite at the same level as his extraordinary dancing. As his love interest Olga — Tatiana’s younger sister — corps member Zimmi Coker was a bright presence, and her fresh, sprightly dancing was just right for the more carefree of the two sisters.

For comparison’s sake, I also caught a second viewing of Onegin the next day. Although not quite the overall success that opening night was, there were a number of notable performances, particularly from the women. The pliable, long-limbed Chloe Misseldine is a fast-rising, much buzzed about soloist with an innately poetic stage presence, and she made an indelible impression as Tatiana. In a sensitively danced performance, her tragic heroine was less strong willed than Shevchenko’s portrayal, exhibiting clear growth from impressionable young girl to a woman in control of her life. In a deluxe bit of casting, the role of Olga was played by the magnificent principal Catherine Hurlin, whose lightness and nuanced acting ability beguiled. Not quite as smashing were the men. Although he looked the part, Thomas Forster in the title role was a tad stiff in his dancing and decidedly flat in his dramatic delivery. Aran Bell as Lensky fared a bit better — dancing with admirable commitment to both the character and the choreography, although lacking Roxander’s fabulous dynamism.

RECOMMENDED

ONEGIN
Dance
American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House
2 hours, 20 minutes (with two intermissions)
Through June 22 (ABT’s summer season concludes on July 20)