"Onegin"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
April 30, 2016
by Rita Felciano
copyright @ 2106
San Francisco Ballet closed this season on a note of popular enthusiasm. Prolonged standing ovations greeted the dancers on opening night for a splendind performance of "Onegin." It's unfortunate that this 1965 Cranko ballet --SFB premiered it in 2012--is so flawed. The repetitions only slow down what is basically a swiftly moving narrative without telling us anything more about the characters emotional travails. Some of the ensemble numbers are too bland; some of the duets overwrought. As a story of mismatched lovers, of true love denied and of being an outsider and adjusting to social norms, it's a tale that needs to be retold.
Maria Kotchekova and Vitor Luiz in "Onegin". Photo © Erik Tomasson
Particularly, if we are unfamiliar with the story, the coup de foudre between Olga (Lauren Strongin in her first time in the role) and Onegin comes like a thunderbolt. Strongin's Olga is impetuous and in-love with being in-love, but gives little indication of being as cruelly shallow as she turns out to be. It was with breath-taking speed that Onegin pulled her into a demonic waltz and subsequent heartless goading of Lensky (Gennadi Nedvigin in his final performance at SFB).
Kotchekova's Tatania grew from strength to strength. Integrating an impeccable technique from horizontal jetés that sailed through the air as if drawn with a ruler, just about floor-touching cambrés and bourrées that looked like pearls on a string, Kotchkeva developed a character that grew through suffering from a dreamer into a reconciled wife. It was a rare performance even from a very good dancer. As Onegin Luiz' trajectory evolved more haltingly; that gesture of ennui with the hand on the forehead felt theatrical and less than sincere. Ramrod straight, his tours en l'air and the pirouettes shot in the air rocket-like, but I also found his apologies to Lensky, and his despair at the upcoming duel a tad overwrought. He was most convincing in the sleazy seduction with which he manipulated Tatiana in her dream. The force that he used on her in the last scene was less that of a despairing lover thann echoes of a man who was used to get what he wanted. Nevertheless, my sense is that Luiz performed Onegin just like Cranko would have wanted him.
Lensky's fury, a mixture of pain and wounded honor, and then his gorgeous, heart-wrenching solo showed Nedvigin as a more complex classical dancer than I can remember having seen in another part. Boada as Gremin also offered a magnificent farewell performance; just a little stiff in the upper body -- as the soldier-husband he was. Both of these dancers could have fine careers in character roles. Strongin, who joined the company as a soloist in 2015 from Houston Ballet, had a few moments of insecurity in under-arm turns, but she is a solid nuanced performer. Somebody to watch.
The Santo Loquasto's designs are borrowed from the National Ballet of Canada. He may have tried to suggest an ambitious bourgeoisie imitating nobility. What he came up with was dowdy. Martin West and his splendid musicians did what they could with the score. Apparently, not that much blame can be put on Cranko, who wanted Tchaikovsky but was told to stay away from the opera.