"Onegin"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
June 20, 2017
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2017 Gay Morris
John Cranko’s 1965 work, "Onegin," entered the American Ballet Theatre repertory in 2001 and has since become a company staple. Its longevity undoubtedly has less to do with its choreography than with the dramatic roles it provides star dancers. Tuesday’s cast was undeniably starry, led by Alessandra Ferri, making a guest appearance, and Roberto Bolle.
"Onegin" is based on Pushkin’s poem and uses various bits and pieces of Tchaikovsky’s music, arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze. Apparently the management of the Stuttgart opera house, where the three-act ballet was first presented, objected to any use of Tchaikovsky’s "Eugene Onegin", so no music from the opera was included. The plot centers on a thoughtless, arrogant young man whose actions lead to tragedy and ultimately to his emotional and psychological ruin. In the ballet, however, the central character is Tatiana, who falls in love with Onegin and is cruelly rejected by him. Years later, Onegin enters her life again, full of regrets. Although her attraction to him is still strong, Tatiana, now married, rejects him.
Photo: Alessandra Ferri and Roberto Bolle in "Onegin." Photo: Gene Schiavone.
Ferri and Bolle have their fans, and they were out in force on Tuesday, greeting the dancers with warmth and affection. However, the fact remains that Ferri is in her 50s and Bolle in his early 40s. Technically they still dance with the ease and elegance they have always possessed, which in itself is impressive. There are many challenges in Cranko’s duets and they carried them off like dancers half their age. But the fire wasn’t there and, more surprising, neither was the nuance of characterization one might expect from these veterans.
Onegin depends on passion to make it work, the performers must be fully engaged and take every opportunity to deepen the psychological elements of their characters. This is because the choreography doesn’t do much. It’s all in the acting. The duets, which are at the heart of the ballet, are, with one exception, standard issue mid-20th century grappling matches. There are a lot of twisted lifts that are meant to convey desire or anguish, depending on what is required; it doesn’t matter what extreme emotion is to be expressed since the movement for it is essentially the same.
The exception to this kind of choreography is a duet for the secondary characters, Lensky and Olga, Tatiana’s sister and her fiancé. It is Lensky who invites Onegin to the country party where he meets Tatiana. And it is at that same party that Onegin flirts with Olga, making Lensky jealous, resulting in a duel in which Lensky is killed. The first act duet for Lensky and Olga occurs before any of the later drama. It is a dance of youthful love that is joyous in its floating lifts, and her skimming, fluttering steps. Sarah Lane’s Olga was at her best in this and other pure dancing segments, where she showed a musicality that made the choreography look interesting and expressive. Danil Simkin, too, was strongest in the dance segments, with a purity of line and refined finish in all his movement. The two were less successful when the action became fraught; Lensky’s jealousy, Olga’s anguished pleas to stop the duel. Neither are subtle actors, able to impart complexity to their roles. James Whiteside as Prince Gremin, Tatianas’ husband, and the other character of note in the cast, did his duty as porteur for the couple’s duet and showed reserve, but little else. The result of all this lack of characterization was a series of stereotypes rather than individuals: the ingénue, the jealous lover, the cad, the mature woman.
There are several other difficulties with "Onegin" when it has less than fully dedicated actors. As mentioned, the inadequacies of the movement become more glaring, but also one begins to notice how dated the ballet is in the handling of form and narrative. Compared to the work of Alexei Ratmansky, ABT’s current resident choreographer, "Onegin" looks ponderous and over literal. It took choreographers like Frederick Ashton and George Balanchine to deal imaginatively with narrative ballets in a mid-century age of abstraction. Now Ratmansky has come along and renewed the form for the 21st century. This leaves second tier 20th century choreographers looking more problematic than ever.