His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, 26 September -
West Australian Ballet’s Onegin delivers a rewarding theatrical experience, some outstanding individual performances and a company of dancers in good form.
Adding Onegin to the repertoire had been former West Australian Ballet Artistic Director Ivan Cavallari’s goal for a number of years. Planned and programmed in 2012 prior to his return to Europe, unforeseen commitments restricted Cavallari to a week in Perth to stage it, and the work was taught and rehearsed by acclaimed former dancer and original Lensky, Egon Madsen, choreologist Birgit Deharde, and current artistic director Aurelien Scannella and his team.
Stuttgart Ballet premiered choreographer John Cranko’s Onegin in Stuttgart in April 1965 when Cranko was also the company’s artistic director. It is based on the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s 1830 narrative poem Eugene Onegin. Cranko revised it several times between 1965 and 1967, changing the ending and removing a prologue. The ballet was premiered in Australia by Stuttgart Ballet at the Sydney Opera House in November 1974. The Australian Ballet first performed it in December 1976, first performed it in Perth in 1977 and has performed it in Perth several times subsequently.
Set in 1820s St Petersburg, with three episodic acts of six scenes structured rather like a stage-play, Cranko’s gift for creating highly theatrical story ballets full of drama and emotion is exemplified in his Onegin. The principal roles offer great opportunities for dancers with the right technical skills and dramatic qualities. It is choreographed to a Tchaikovsky musical collage arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze using connecting themes and some recognizable melodies and was played by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Myron Romanul with conviction, heightening the dramatic moments.
In the cast reviewed, Matthew Lehmann as Onegin impressed as a troubled, distracted and careless man, but a man with a conscience who clearly felt some affection for Tatiana, thus amplifying her hurt at his rejection. Lehmann was a thoughtful, intuitive partner and he also showed good control and elegance in the solo. As Tatiana, Fiona Evans was a revelation in a commanding performance of powerful yet subtle intensity and an expanded breadth of movement. Her Tatiana was a sensitive, trusting romantic of great complexity and her dancing imbued with meaning and purpose. Daniel Roberts, always an interesting dancer, was a passionate and impetuous Lensky and danced with commendable control and technique in the solos. Sarah Sutcliffe’s Olga was a carefree, child-like young girl and it was easy to understand how Lensky’s overreaction and Olga’s thoughtlessness lead to his death. As Prince Gremin, David Mack was again impressive, showing convincing awareness of Gremin’s situation and sympathetic partnering in his scenes with Tatiana.
The hired sets from Prague are not those of original designer Jürgen Rose, but a scaled-back version by Elisabeth Dalton. Atmospheric lighting by Frank Croese managed to work magic, with a palette of hues creating pastoral scenes, misty moonlight, soft blue skies, a dream-like mirror scene and an opulent ballroom scene, despite the fact that some of the scenery appeared to have enjoyed better days. The hired costumes, also designed by Elisabeth Dalton, worked beautifully as did a front cloth with an image of Pushkin surrounded by a ‘gold leaf’ border and the years of his short life, 1799 -1837, and lines in Russian from Tatiana’s letter to Onegin, inscribed.
With the ranks swelled by the addition of six experienced new dancers, other highlights were the lively athleticism of the men in the country dances, the flying split jetés en diagonale across the stage, good unison in the party scene (although perhaps Cranko himself, were he alive today, would dispense with the young dancers disguised as ‘old folk’ hamming it up at the party), and the contrasting, intricate patterns and elevated formal style in the ballroom scene. Clunky pointe shoes, which managed to be more fortissimo than the orchestra on quite a few occasions, and noisy scene changes during the crossovers, were a distraction. And some of the gentlemen sported very un-1820s hairstyles.
Despite some lapses into melodrama and choreographic repetition of sequences for no clear musical or dramatic purpose, Onegin defines Cranko’s choreographic legacy with inventive, organic group dances, clear narrative and character development through movement, thrilling pas de deux and a transfixing finale, all of which resonated well with the audiences of Perth.
- Margaret Mercer
Onegin closes 5 October. More info at www.waballet.com.au
Photos: (top) Jayne Smeulders and Jiri Jelinek and (leaping) Alessio Scognamiglio.