By Kathryn Olsen
To open the 2022-2023 season of Ballet West, Onegin is being staged to great acclaim at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. This ballet was written in 1965, when choreographer John Cranko and arranger Kurt-Heinz Stolze collaborated to create Onegin. Ballet West’s first performance of this work was in 2019. I was delighted to discover a new work and recognized its music from other ballet works and did not read the background so I would come to the production with a completely open mind.
As the ballet begins, Madame Larina (Amy Potter/Olivia Gusti/Katlyn Addison) and her daughter Olga (Chelsea Keefer/Kazlyn Nielsen/Kristina Weimer)are making preparations for a party in celebration of Tatiana’s (Katlyn Addison/Jenna Rae Herrera/Amy Potter) birthday. Olga’s fiancé Lensky (Jordan Veit/David Huffmire/Vinicius Lima) arrives with a friend from out of town, the titular Onegin (Adrian Fry/Brian Waldrop/Hadriel Diniz). While the new arrival is bored with the country folk, Tatiana, the hopeless romantic, falls in love with him. Onegin, repulsed by the attentions of this naive young girl, rejects her and boldly flirts with Lensky’s fiancee, an insult that leads to a life-changing tragedy. How this moment changes the lives of the players is the focal point of the remainder of the drama.
Addison is unfailingly exquisite as Tatiana, whether as a lovestruck young girl or a woman who has moved past the horrors of her first infatuation. Choreography is echoed repeatedly and the music shapes the tone of the identical movements, but it requires a different dynamic between characters and, as my plus-one observed, “this is a ballet where you have to know how to really act.” Addison dances with immense passion in her Act I fantasy pas de deux with Onegin, but turns the memory of that passion against the man later in the production. In her moment of triumph at the end, the audience erupted into applause over a seemingly small decision, which only highlights the power of her portrayal.
Keefer’s Olga is not as prominent in the principal action, but she runs the gamut of emotions from joyful anticipation to desperate anguish with skillful attention to the onstage chemistry in each of her scenes. Act II in particular allows her dramatic side to emerge and she is a magnificent force as the fulcrum on which the plot teeters.
Fry’s portrayal of Onegin is one that shifts between callous indifference and sometimes lustful entitlement, between which he has moments of stark vulnerability. Fry plays the haunted eponymous character in moments of profound emotional disorientation. He is fully committed to the role of a man who acts with tragic certainty and while it is sometimes difficult to sympathize with him, it is never a challenge to understand the motives behind his actions. Fry is a dancer of immense power and focused artistic expression and the result is a performance that allows the audience to understand his allure to the young Tatiana.
Veit as Lensky is often seen in reference to another character’s choices or relationships. He is loving as a fiancé to Olga, jovial with his friend Onegin, and affectionate in affection to Tatania. His solo near the end of Act II is one of the most heart-rending moments of the ballet as he prepares to duel a cherished friend in defense of the woman he loves. The scene is done in complete isolation on the stage and can best be described as a lamentation. It was the first point in the ballet in which I found myself in tears because of the emotional energy that Veit poured into the solo.
A crucial character who does not enter the action until Act II is Prince Gremin (Dominic Ballard/Jake Preece/Joseph Lynch). Ballard portrays the eventual love of Tatiana, but from his introduction, he is a representation of what love in moderation and sense can be. We see this as he makes a home for Tatiana as his princess and the tenderness of his performance is the most striking thing about Ballard’s rendering. Gremin is someone to whom Tatiana can be faithful rather than a figure of infatuation, which is a welcome turn in this cast.
The companion mother figures of Madame Larina and Tatiana’s Nurse (Maggie Wright-Tesch) are the minor characters of the solo roles, but provide contrasting and complementary influences over their “younger” counterparts. Potter is affectionate and doting while Wright-Tesch alternates between a stern and obliging nature.
The corps de ballet fulfilled a wonderful variety of roles, whether as fellow country folk, elderly partygoers, or members of Gremin’s court. Because this is a Tchaikovsky score at its heart, folk dances and complex group efforts are the norm, but this production brings out humorous moments that prove the roughness of ordinary romantic entanglements throughout the first two acts.
The staging of this production was understated in many ways and it allowed the story to unfold in more dramatic ways as the action is moved from a garden to a bedroom to a palace in St. Petersburg. The Scenic Design and Costume Design by Thomas Mika are both versatile and wonderful in partnership and collaboration with Director of Costume Production Jason Hadley. An ingenious use of a semi-transparent scene allows both flashbacks and background action to be highlighted as other scenes are playing out. Jared Oaks, as always, leads the musical ensemble with a deftness that comes close to dancing as well. The staging of this is done by Jane Bourne. The seamless beauty of the production is accomplished under the stewardship of Michael Andrew Currey, Jane Victorine Wood, Pamela Robinson-Harris, and Calvin Kitten.
Onegin is playing until October 29, so there are several more opportunities to hurry off to St. Petersburg and see one of the most emotionally-charged productions of the year. Children as young as 8 years old can attend, but should be prepared for on-stage violence and mildly adult romantic situations. This is a production not to be missed by anyone who needs to have their heart stirred.
Ballet West Presents Onegin; By John Cranko, Based on the opera by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Based on the novel by Alexander Pushkin.
Capitol Theatre, 50 W 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Oct 21-29, 2022, 7:30 PM. See website for matinee performances.
Tickets: $20-104
Contact: 801-869-6900
www.balletwest.org
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