Tchaikovsky’s Eugene
Onegin
Royal Opera House, London
January 2, 2015
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| The fleeting, haughty Onegin on the prowl. Photo credit: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian |
The fourth and final stop
in our holiday season opera tourism circuit was London, to catch the great
Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Eugene Onegin singing in his native Russian at the Royal
Opera House. And while our favorite Siberian villain baritone was the decisive
factor for this trip (even more so after seeing him in the very emotional Trovatore
at the Met), we were positively surprised by the inventiveness of the direction
as well as by the rest of the cast.
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| Tatyana in her reading room. Photo credit: ROH |
A co-production of the
Royal Opera House, the Fondazione Teatro Regio di Torino and Opera Australia,
this Onegin realized the directorial vision of ROH’s own Kasper
Holten. It was one of the most clever and thought-provoking stagings I’ve
seen. Holten’s Onegin emphasizes many of the core themes of the opera
including reflections on the passage of time, the pervasive nature of
nostalgia, and the inevitable consequences of one’s wrong choices. It was
simple yet effective, intellectual yet very moving at the same time.
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| The fateful encounters of our youth. Photo credit: ROH |
The straightforward and
very versatile sets consisted primarily of a grand partition with four floor-to-ceiling doors that could open up onto abstract projections of the
countryside in fall, winter and spring as the scene required or else serve as
an element in Prince Gremin’s palace in the final scenes. Recessed features in
the great wall also housed bookcases. After all, books play an important role
in Tatyana’s young life as a passionate reader, and will inform many of her
actions.
While things start simple
in this production, elements from one scene to the next begin to accumulate.
Tatyana’s books begin strewn across the floor. The servants pick them up. She
goes and scatters them all over the place again. And there they remain. As does
the rest of the detritus from all intervening scenes, including bails of hay
from the harvest, fallen tree branches, cabinet doors ripped from their hinges,
even Lensky’s corpse – yes poor Michael Fabiano had to lie there motionless
after his defeat in the duel for the last 45 minutes of the opera or so.
Unfortunate soul!
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| Detritus of previous scenes clutter the foreground at the ball. Photo credit: ROH |
These unusual yet
transparent directorial decisions all added up to a very clear take on the
material: with the passing of time the decisions we make have consequences that
we must forever live with. The passage of time was also emphasized by the
decision to have many of the early scenes acted out by younger versions of the
Tatyana and Onegin characters played by dancers while the singers looked
wistfully upon the disingenuousness of their prior selves and seem to sing
their roles in a tone of regretful nostalgia – a reflexive commentary on the
paths they went down, which squares up with the main lines of the story.
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| Dancers reenact the past as their alter egos look on. Photo credi: ROH |
The use of costumes to
identify characters over time was also particularly charged. The red dress that
Tatyana continues to sport under her princess coat right up to the end suggests
that maybe underneath her newfound glitz she has not changed so much. Key
events of the opera leave a trail on stage, as well as below the surface of
subtle costuming decisions, as a memento of the long lasting impact of certain
moments in the characters’ lives. The past is inescapable and our decisions and
transgressions, the messes we make and the books we read stick with us. They
clutter the brave new world we are eventually forced to inhabit. They make us
who we are. They either hinder or inform us – humbling reflections as we
embrace a new year, look back at the one just past and put forth our
resolutions for the one ahead.
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| Onegin is about to make the mistake of his life. Photo credit: ROH |
Tchaikovsky’s score under
the baton of maestro Semyon Bychkov was more romantic and heart
wrenching than ever. As to the cast, it was truly excellent throughout without
a single weak link. Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the title role was as
expected seductive, smooth and haughty, with his velvety baritone more fluid
than usual in his native Russian. However, Dmitri’s rendition of Onegin was not
as gut-stirring as I was hoping for. True that the last time I saw him live it
was for his comeback at the Met when he was showered by love and support from
the public and his colleagues alike, so there was a whole different emotional
vibe surrounding him and possibly in his own performance, too.
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| Lensky woos his lady love. Photo credit: ROH |
The singer who truly had me
head over heels was tenor Michael Fabiano in his ROH debut with the role of the poet
Lensky. While I’ve heard good things about this American tenor (who was also
the recipient of the Richard Tucker award in 2014), I was not prepared for such
soaring, intense, ardent passion. Fabiano was the quintessential young
idealistic poet in love and had so much vocal charisma that I was truly upset
to see him die so early in the opera, I wanted to hear way more from him (and
having him lie dead on stage until the end did not help!).
I am happy to report that
the main takeaway of our little holiday opera tourism is that the tenor famine
is officially over. Russell Thomas (as Pollione in Norma), Francesco Meli (as
Carlo in Giovanna D’Arco) and now Michael Fabiano convinced me that there are
still tenors out there capable of sounding powerfully manly yet
goosebump-inducing and swooningly moving. Thank goodness as lately I was
starting to lose hope.
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| Tatyana relives the letter she once wrote. Photo credit: ROH |
Australian soprano Nicole
Car was a fresh and lyric Tatyana with an effortless beautiful sound.
Acting-wise I found her more convincing when she portrayed the younger Tatyana
in love compared to the older wiser version that came across as more stiff and
confused than disdainful and mature. Bass-baritone Ferruccio Furlanetto
as Prince Gremin was magnificent, with a deep seductive instrument and a very
moving rendition of the older soldier who rediscovered the joys of love with
the young Tatyana. It was one of those magic operatic moments when time stopped
and everybody held their breath.
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| Prince Gremin with his fountain of youth. Photo credit: ROH |
Even the Royal Opera House
itself seems to be going through a similar upheaval at the moment, grappling
with the detritus of its past in this space. Their home at Covent Garden is
breathtakingly gorgeous but also seemingly very messy. The common areas were
all very stressful to navigate, definitely poorly organized and clearly not
capacious enough to comfortably accommodate the crowds. As far as we can tell,
the company recently started extensive renovation works, though it is unclear whether the discomfort we experienced was
due to the works or rather the works are aimed at fixing the issue. In any
event I definitely look forward to visiting the ROH again to check out how the
ambitious renovation will solve the problem in the future.
– Lei & Lui
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| Younger Onegin enacts years of intervening debauchery while older Onegin watches. Photo credit: ROH |
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| The men prepare for their duel. Photo credit: ROH |
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| Princess Tatyana spurns her desired lover. Photo credit: ROH |
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| When Tatyana knew young love. Photo credit: ROH |
