The Royal Ballet, Onegin, January 2015

[aileen]

I shouldn't think so but Kevin O'H seems to have decided to pair Osipova with Golding, and McRae in some things.

[nottsballetlover]

Just want to echo some of the above posters on the performance this Saturday matinee, featuring Osipova/Golding/Ball/Naghdi/Gartside. Sadly it's the only Onegin I have been able to attend this run - one of my favourite ballets and would loved to have seen different casts. But I'm so very happy to have seen this afternoon's performance. There is something about Osipova.......What an amazing performance. I've only seen her live now twice but she always makes me want to burst into tears the minute I see her. I don't think I mean that in a negative sense - just that she has such presence and power on stage. For me , a totally credible Tatiana in her journey, I felt every bit of it. She took me on Tatiana's journey from the moment the curtain opened on Act 1 to the fall of the curtain on Act 3. I was emotionally hooked all the way. She has a dramatic intensity I have rarely seen in any dancer. I felt so lucky to be on front row stalls to see her every movement. She shook from her whole body when she wrote the letter to Onegin!!

I did warm to Matthew Golding as Onegin. For me he was good. As a dancer he has amazingly beautiful lines. 

Jasmine Nagdhi and Matthew Ball as Olga and Lensky  for me today were sublimely amazingly fantastic - they danced and acted those roles to perfection. I've seen Onegin in many versions and formats but they by far surpassed any other other interpretation I have seen. Nagdhi went from being childishly besotted and in love with with Lensky to flirting with Onegin. Amazing pdds with those 2.

Final mention for Bennet Gartside as Prince Gremin. So happy Tatiana married him - good choice, lovely man!!

 

So yes, I loved Onegin today. Probably one of the best performances I have ever seen in fact. 

[capybara]

Going slightly off topic but, since joining the RB,  Vadim Muntagirov has danced with: Akane Takada (in Beauty, Don Q and Onegin); with Beatriz Stix Brunell in Winter's Tale (they looked good together, I thought); with Sarah Lamb in Manon (a great success); with Marianela Nunez in Beauty and Symphonic Variations; with Melissa Hamilton in Symphonic also, and with Francesca Hayward in Alice (again lovely with people hoping for more from them).

 

As mentioned above, this is a lot of different partners and it does seem that few of us have felt that the (most frequent) Vadim/Akane pairing is the 'right' one. If Vadim and Francesca look 'right' together, he would surely not be too tall for Osipova.

[Bruce Wall]

I wrote in my initial appraisal of Osipova's Oneign debut that it was a work in progress.  A couple of people read this, I fear, in a manner which certainly I did not intend.  For me that is EVER the case with Osipova and, IMHO, it is THAT which defines her greatness, much as it did for Maximova (who was such a stunning Titania with LFB/ENB, the original presenters of this Cranko work) and Semenyaka, who was Osipova's first Bolshoi coach (and, boy, does it show).  Several entirely vital chapters were added in today's matinee in the towering tome that is HER Titania.  They succeeded in enhancing everything and everyone in her surround.  There could be no question:  She and IT were ALWAYS of/in the moment; ever cognizant and unquestionably - heartbreakingly - zoetic.  (Immediately after its conclusion - ripe with ecstatic curtain calls - I dashed to the Coliseum and watched five hours and forty minutes of Richard Jones' fine production of Wagner's 'The Mastersingers' which had in turn some truly inspired moments as well - as had the Flying Dutchman at the ROH last Thursday.  All hail Pieczonka's STUNNING Senta.  Should interest prevail, do try to catch them.) 

 

That Matthew Ball is a danseur noble in the making cannot be challenged.  K. O'Hare's fundamental philosophy is now paying substantial dividends.  (I so look forward to seeing him have an opportunity to dance with Hayward.)  Yasmine Naghdi - she of the sunburst smile, placement and musicality to match the resplendent memory of Katrina Killian - made him more than whole.  Together they sang as Lensky and Olga.  As Aileen suggests above, they were the very embodiment of 'Love's Young Dream'.  This pairing didn't need to adhere to any Italian legend for characteristic inspiration.  No.  They leaped efficacious and simmering -  a Frank and Vivie to the life in full chase - fresh from the pages of Shaw's passion.  The first act PDD - ripe with those fiendishly difficult back turning lifts - was enchantment incarnate.  Never was there a need here for any 'filling'.  (This sadly was not the case in the one other Oneign cast I have seen in this current RB stint of Cranko.) 

 

Golding was more than ripe in his title character's build and it was Osipova who courageously saw that he defiantly held sway.  The small goatee Golding now harbours framed the complexity of his overall and ever changing mindset.  While Osipova's Titania of the opening act was incarcerated in her romantic novels, Golding's Oneign - on first spying her - suddenly saw the picture of some woman he had loved but somehow rejected.  His first act solo was riveting in its mix of self-anger, guilt, regret and frustration.  Surely that's what alighted the scent of this young Titania; Fear.  She longed for someone she could have a good fight with.  She aspired to tangle.  Osipova's entreating bourees were all as if both in and out of a cage. Her anticipation was rife as was - again - her spellbinding solo in the second act.  There she churned having already been spellbound by the fulfillment of a fantasy Evgeni (as enervated by Golding's Godlike attack of 'any girl's dream') and also destroyed by the arrival of an all too realistic dawn.  (I, for one, very much look forward to seeing more of/from this partnership.)  Gartside once more was the very picture of aristocratic repression with his cherry of humanity skillfully placed on top much as he stunningly delivered in Wheeldon's absording Winter's Tale.  His loving wife in this interim had more than learned to play - and excel at - the game he taught her.  Indeed it was that very solidity which had brokered their bond of love.  We could ourselves feel the surety of its seal.

 

Banished by Osipova were the overt dramatics some other RB Titanias seem to currently favour in the last scene's PDD.  Here Osipova pared all down to the bone; her tables having been turned much as her mirror was.  HERE Osipova practiced role reversal.  She played Oneign's earlier role - but one acutely fixed in her own frame.  The fatal shot of Lensky - and her piercing stare in response which leveled Oneign to tears (and a big Bravo to Golding for so movingly pulling that off) had seen to this.  For Osipova there was no going back from that fold.  She said as much in her first glare at Oneign in the Gremin ballroom.  In the final PDD Osipova partnered Golding's own wretched anguish.  After he was no longer able to endure it (in my mind's eye running out to an almost certain death of one kind or another) Osipova gathered up the remnants of his now shredded letter in triumph and slowly - VERY SLOWLY - walked into the spotlight and waited until the VERY LAST SECOND to tilt her head back in a triumph.  'YES' she seemed to scream; It was piercing.  It WAS brilliant. 

 

Brava ... BRAVI! 

Edited February 7, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[capybara]

Going slightly off topic but, since joining the RB,  Vadim Muntagirov has danced with: Akane Takada (in Beauty, Don Q and Onegin); with Beatriz Stix Brunell in Winter's Tale (they looked good together, I thought); with Sarah Lamb in Manon (a great success); with Marianela Nunez in Beauty and Symphonic Variations; with Melissa Hamilton in Symphonic also, and with Francesca Hayward in Alice (again lovely with people hoping for more from them).

 

As mentioned above, this is a lot of different partners and it does seem that few of us have felt that the (most frequent) Vadim/Akane pairing is the 'right' one. If Vadim and Francesca look 'right' together, he would surely not be too tall for Osipova.

 

I forgot that Muntagirov also danced the first night of Alice with Lamb - so he has had two partners in that, in Beauty, in Symphonic and, also, in Manon where he must, surely, have been rehearsing originally with the scheduled Cuthbertson. And all that in the space or barely a year with the RB.

[Angela]

Osipova gathered up the remnants of his now shredded letter in triumph and slowly - VERY SLOWLY - walked into the spotlight and waited until the VERY LAST SECOND to tilt her head back in a triumph.  'YES' she seemed to scream; It was piercing. 

 

Sorry if I seem a bit bewildered, but in my 80+ Onegins since 1980 I always thought that, in the final scene, Tatyana is desperate that she has lost the love of her live forever. This sounds like the story of a revenge. Wrong, so wrong!!

[Bruce Wall]

Sorry if I seem a bit bewildered, but in my 80+ Onegins since 1980 I always thought that, in the final scene, Tatyana is desperate that she has lost the love of her live forever. This sounds like the story of a revenge. Wrong, so wrong!!

 

Angela, I don't think it was revenge, or certainly as it is, I suppose, most commonly - well, conventionally - perceived in this specific context.  Certainly, that's not how I read it.  If it WAS it was ONLY against herself and even then she sought I felt a definition of greater expanse.  This WAS Tatyana's battle with the loss of - as you put it - 'the love of her - (and here I assume you mean) - life CERTAINLY.  The final moment I READ as being that of a personal victory for Tatyana; a new freedom; a renewal; a letting go if you will.  I had felt the same at the end of Maximova's performance.  (Did you see her do it?  You must have out of that number.)  Surely there have been - MUST BE - more than just one way to skin the Cranko cat, Angela.  At least I would hope there have been for your good self especially after having seen more than eighty of them run their course.  Certainly, IF IT WAS ME I would want to wait til I had myself a chance to see this particular artist's take before I made so definitive a judgement ... but that may well just be me.  Thanks so again for ALL the work you do in keeping us abreast of the fine goings on in Germany.  I only wish I, myself, had more of an opportunity to see those fine artists first hand.  How I would like to.  I positively adored Jason Reilly's Oneign in the last RB round of this particular work.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Angela]

Bruce, my judgement was not about Osipova whom I have not seen indeed - it was about your interpretation of the final scene.

[aileen]

I don't think that she tears the letter up in revenge although this does mirror Onegin's destruction of her own letter to him years before. She tears up the letter very deliberately because she wants to show him that there is no possibility of them being together and she has to give him this message in the strongest possible terms so that he will go away rather than stick around and wear down her resolve. She has to be strong because he is weak (as well as selfish and destructive). It also symbolises to herself her decision not to go away with Onegin. Afterwards, she cradles the shreds of the letter to her after because they are all that she has left of him and they represent her lost love.

 

I wonder whether Onegin and Tatiana would have been happy if they had gone way together. I suspect not. Tatiana's guilt would have eaten away at her and destroyed any chance of happiness they had and Onegin would have quickly tired her and looked elsewhere. He strikes me as the kind of man who wants what he can't have and enjoys the thrill of the chase; once he has got what he wants he soon loses interest. Deep down, the mature Tatiana knows this and that is why she sends him away.

[Bruce Wall]

Bruce, my judgement was not about Osipova whom I have not seen indeed - it was about your interpretation of the final scene.

 

Angela, with respect, it was but my interpretation of what I saw/felt on Saturday afternoon standing at T46 in the Royal Opera House ampi-theatre.  I, too, (although certainly not in the league of your number) have seen a goodly few performances of this work in London, New York and, on a few occasions, elsewhere.  (I remember an interesting one in Vilnius for example.)  I was simply responding to what I saw/felt.  I am indeed sorry that you felt it was "wrong, so wrong". Myself I don't think there are any real 'rights and wrongs' or any 'one specific way' in terms of perception of such matters.  I, myself, love to read of other people's perceptions of such works - such as your own in the much appreciated German file - especially when they are interpretations of established literary tomes (e.g., Oneign, Taming of the Shrew, etc.).  They can I THINK only help to make me consider and grow ... but, as I said, that is just me and I am ... I admit ... a funny old bird.  I wish you, Angela, a most joyous end to your weekend. 

Edited February 8, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[capybara]

I read Osipova's take on the final scene/pdd with Onegin completely differently and did not interpret it as being fundamentally different from the norm. And, dare I say it, I did not feel as much emotion from her as expected and as I received from Golding.

 

But this just goes to show what a wonderful art ballet is, what amazing artistes we are watching, and how we all differ in our perceptions.

[aileen]

Yes, Golding was very emotional in Act 3. Perhaps Osipova was worried about being too OTT (and straying into Giselle 'mad' territory) and reined herself in a bit or perhaps she felt that she was portraying a woman who, whilst she was seething with emotion inside, had to keep some control of herself because she had to send Onegin away. I don't know. It would be interesting to hear her take on the ballet's denouement.

[SPD444]

"It would be interesting to hear her take on the ballet's denouement."

 

She is the next guest of the Ballet Association on March 11th - go along and ask her.

[MAB]

There are a number of literary masterpieces in which the characters act in a way that defies logic.  You'd think Tatiana would have put her foot down earlier in her marriage:

 

"Sorry Grems, but that cousin of yours, Eugene, did kill my sister's boyfriend and frankly I don't want the murdering scumbag in the house"

 

Or words to that effect (I imagine Pushkin would have phrased it more elegantly).

 

I'm sure that when Onegin skulked off abroad she hoped she had seen the last of him, so that when he returned she experienced a lot of mixed emotions.  Now I have on occasion seen an Onegin so drop dead gorgeous that the very sight of him would get Tania's hormones going, but over many, many years they've been few and far between.  I always feel her only emotion when she wakes up the next morning is one of total relief. 

[Bruce Wall]

"It would be interesting to hear her take on the ballet's denouement."

 

She is the next guest of the Ballet Association on March 11th - go along and ask her.

 

Thanks so for the Heads Up on this, SPD444.  That's one I'M NOT GOING TO MISS. 

[aileen]

Going back to Muntagirov, yes, he has had a lot of partners in his first year at the RB but the partnerships with Nunez and Lamb (in four different ballets) were unscheduled and it looks likely that he will have a different partner to the one originally cast in Swan Lake as well. Unfortunately, it looks as if it will be some time until we see what the partnership with Cuthbertson is like. At the RB, more than at the other UK companies, dancers are expected to dance with several partners and Muntagirov will have to adapt to this as that is the way that the RB operates. He is also due to dance with Morera in Fille. It seems an odd pairing to me but, you never know, it might work brilliantly. Btw, there's a lengthy (and candid) interview with Muntagirov in this month's Dancing Times in which he says rather sweetly that Daria is still the top as far as partnerships go (they are dancing together in several galas this year).

[alymer]

According to my translation of Pushkin's poem, Tatiana says:

"..............But now my lot

is firmly cast.  I don't know whether

I acted thoughtlessly or not:

you see, with tears and incantation

mother implored me; my sad station

made all fates look the same -  and so

I married.  I beseech you go;

I know your heart: it has a feeling

for honour, a straightforward pride.

I love you (what's the use to hide

behind deceit or double-dealing?)

but I've become another's wife -

and I'll be true to him, for life."

[aileen]

How would a man be regarded if he killed someone in a duel? Presumably, he wasn't regarded as a murderer if the state did not outlaw it but did it damage him socially, financially etc? Would a high status or respectable woman marry him? Would other men go into business with him (or perhaps men who fought duels were always independently wealthy and did not go into business)? Could they take on important positions in society?

[bangorballetboy]

 After he was no longer able to endure it (in my mind's eye running out to an almost certain death of one kind or another) Osipova gathered up the remnants of his now shredded letter in triumph and slowly - VERY SLOWLY - walked into the spotlight and waited until the VERY LAST SECOND to tilt her head back in a triumph.  'YES' she seemed to scream; It was piercing.  It WAS brilliant. 

 

Brava ... BRAVI! 

 

I was sitting in the front row and heard her actual scream, and it wasn't valedictory but filled with anquish.

[nickwellings]

How would a man be regarded if he killed someone in a duel? Presumably, he wasn't regarded as a murderer if the state did not outlaw it but did it damage him socially, financially etc? Would a high status or respectable woman marry him? Would other men go into business with him (or perhaps men who fought duels were always independently wealthy and did not go into business)? Could they take on important positions in society?

 

 

 

I think it was entirely accepted as part of social codes of the times. No asperions on one's character. It was an honour thing, much like it has been throughout history. (Live by the sword, die by the sword.)

 

I found this page, which I found interesting. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4522

 

I think Onegin's outcast status was more to do with his remorse, he withdrew from society, rather than it retreating away from him. I am pretty sure a dueling history was no impediment to achieving or retaining status. Unless you were a serial dueler, in which case, perhaps!

 

 

To just echo some comments above, I too found Osipova's interpretation particularly powerful yesterday afternoon. If I could, I'd definitely go again. It wasn't quite the "five star, footstomping, wild cries" reaction from our audience as the Guardian review night had experienced, but we still applauded heartily indeed

 

 

Edited February 8, 2015 by nickwellings

[aileen]

I find matinee audiences, especially mid-week ones (unless there are a lot of school parties in attendance), generally more reserved than evening ones, probably because there are more older people there and, generally, older people are more reserved in showing their appreciation; foot stamping is not common practice among ballet audiences, particularly those containing a large proportion of older people.

[capybara]

. At the RB, more than at the other UK companies, dancers are expected to dance with several partners and Muntagirov will have to adapt to this as that is the way that the RB operates. 

 

Just for the record, Muntagirov danced with 5 different Medoras in the ENB's Le Corsaire and is accustomed to partnering a range of ballerinas in various parts of the world. This kind of experience has surely helped him to substitute or adapt to a new partner with little notice and on a number of occasions at the RB.

 

I agree that it would have been good to see a Muntagirov/Cuthbertson partnership developing this year but what happens next season (with younger dancers emerging) will be interesting too.

 

But this is all off thread..................

[alison]

I read Osipova's take on the final scene/pdd with Onegin completely differently and did not interpret it as being fundamentally different from the norm.

Me too. I must say, I didn't recognise Bruce's interpretation of *her* interpretation, but then he *was* a lot further away from the stage, and probably had a different viewpoint. Her "scream" was audible from the Balcony.

[aileen]

I don't think that I or anyone else was suggesting that Muntagirov is not a very good partner or able to adapt to partner another ballerina at short notice. We were talking about chemistry between him and his partners.

 

Actually, I was thinking of starting a thread about guesting.....

 

I didn't hear Osipova's scream from the Amphitheatre yesterday either.

[Bruce Wall]

 Her "scream" was audible from the Balcony.

 

REALLY?????   And here was I thinking it was just mime!!!

[aileen]

Is that the first time that Tatiana has ever actually screamed in a performance of Onegin?

[Jillykins]

This is a first tentative comment. I have been reading the forum for a long time, been attending ballet for over seventy years and have also taught ballet to children. I can't afford to go to more than one cast so have limited exposures. I don't know Onegin well but thoroughly enjoy it. I came to the performance on 4th February and reallY enjoyed it. I love the way the costumes and make up mark the passage of time. I have not read the original and wonder if Tatiana had any children to influence her decision? I always feel the spark between Marienella and Thiago and I felt the long lines of his legs in black tights really emphasised how well he was dancing. The thing that made me want to contribute was the beauty of The partnership of Takada and Muntagirov. It was effortless, graceful and so soft, no noisy landings. One movement flowed into another seamlessly. Great to see Hirano being challenged too! Wish I could see another cast to compare.

[Beryl H]

All these comments have made me very glad I have a ticket for the Osipova/Golding cast on the 16th, I saw their first performance and they have obviously added to their interpretations, just hope that Natalia Osipova doesn't injure herself in Swan Lake on Friday, actually I'd like to see her and Nehemiah Kish, although I will see him as Onegin on Wednesday.

 

Last night I watched the Ralph Fiennes DVD which was partly filmed in a very cold looking St. Petersburg, fascinating to compare because all the emotion has to be contained in the face and voice, Ralph Fiennes always does anguished so well too!

[alison]

Hello, Jillykins, and thank you for delurking! Yes, Tatiana at this point had several children.

 

I put "scream" in inverted commas because I don't think it was actually a scream, but certainly a gasp or something was audible.

[Balletfanp]

I'm not sure I agree with the comments about the lack of chemistry between Muntagirov and Takada. To be fair, I've only seen them "live" once - in Don Quixote (plus I'm no expert), but to me they seemed a pretty good match dancing wise. And seeing them in the Don Q rehearsal clip with Acosta, I felt that they did have a chemistry - they certainly seemed to have a connection there. For me, the issue might be that she can't, at this stage, match the power of his acting. He is really beginning to develop what promises to be an incredible talent for acting (as well as his wonderful dancing), where from what I have seen of him, he really seems to live the part he is playing. I don't think Takada can yet reach those heights (although that may well change with experience and time), and possibly - I don't know - that is why she isn't always the best match for him. Someone mentioned that they were a better match in Sleeping Beauty; a part where possibly the acting is of less importance than good dancing (which is definitely her strength).

 

I didn't see them in Onegin (more's the pity) but I imagine from what I have heard of Muntagirov's strongly acted performance, she could have come across as being a bit colourless in that role? But then, as I said, I didn't see them....

[Angela]

Is that the first time that Tatiana has ever actually screamed in a performance of Onegin?

 

I never heard her scream. And I never imagined her screaming a real word, neither NO or YES. Maybe she should punch one of her clenched hands upwards if she thought it she had her revenge now... I'm sorry, this is going in a very wrong direction now. I apologize. 

[Jane S]

 Yes, Tatiana at this point had several children.

 

 

 

Didn't Cranko originally have Tatiana visit her children in their nursery in the last scene? I only vaguely remember reading about it, but I think he took it out - maybe before the first night - as it seemed too sentimental, or something.

[zxDaveM]

I never heard her scream. And I never imagined her screaming a real word, neither NO or YES. Maybe she should punch one of her clenched hands upwards if she thought it she had her revenge now... I

 

As long as she doesn't exclaim "1-0" or "back of the net".....