Product: Eugene Onegin (2009)
Rating: 2.0
Not a First Choice 'Onegin'
I wanted very much to like this DVD of a new Bolshoi Opera production of Tchaikovsky's operatic masterpiece Yevgenii Onegin. But, alas, it was not to be. The Bolshoi's old production had held the stage for more than fifty years and was beloved by Russians and visitors alike. In 2006 it was remounted with sets and stage direction by Dmitri Tcherniakov who apparently wanted to have a production shorn of tradition. But the production failed not only in my opinion but in the opinions of many of those who saw the new production both in Moscow and at the Palais Garnier in Paris where it was also presented and where this live performance was filmed. I seem to recall that in Moscow there were hundreds who either wanted their ticket money back or turned in their tickets for a refund after hearing about the production's premiere. The doyenne of Russian sopranos, Galina Vishnevskaya, herself a celebrated Tatiana, was so outraged by the production that she canceled a gala at the theater honoring her on her eightieth birthday. She said that the production had been perpetrated by 'hooligans.'First the musical values. Onegin is sung by one of the opera world's rising artists, the Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien (pronounced, for those like most of us who stumble with Polish names, Mar-yoosh Kvetchyen) and he makes both a handsome and a handsome-voiced protagonist. He is made by the director to be more of a heel than even the libretto makes him. Tatiana is sung by Tatiana Monogarova, a beautiful young woman. Her singing is acceptable but not particularly memorable. Lensky, sung by Andrey Dunaev, is quite good. His tenor is not as rich as one might hope, but certainly more than acceptable. As for Madame Larina (Makvala Kasrashvili) and Olga (Margarita Mamsirova) the less said the better. But worst of all is the important part of the Nurse, sung with a horrendous wobble and dodgy intonation by Emma Sarkisyan. On the other hand, Prince Gremin is sung gloriously by the veteran basso Anatoli Kotcherga. The Bolshoi chorus and orchestra do wondrously, led by Alexander Vedernikov.But the stage direction is distressing. Both Madame Larina and the Nurse are given confusing and ultimately pointless things to do by Tcherniakov. Poor Larina has to go about the stage laughing riotously (and unconvincingly) for no apparent reason. Even worse, particularly in the first act, is the silly overacting of Monogarova who is attempting to portray a nave and gawky adolescent but comes across as simply not knowing what it is she is supposed to be doing. Again, I lay the blame for this at the feet of the director. She manages the grown-up and now-sophisticated Tatiana of the third act in much better style. Lensky's moving 'Kuda, kuda' is marred by the giddy pantomime of an old biddy who, in a two-shot with Lensky, keeps distracting from the meaning of the aria. Apparently, she thinks Lensky is flirting with her. (That's my guess, anyhow.) And what is the point of that? That we won't want to sit still and hear one of Tchaikovsky's greatest arias staged 'straight'? Talk about distrusting (and abasing) your material, Tcherniakov! And there isn't even any dancing in the great ball scene with its lilting polonaise!The stage design is silly. The whole opera uses a single set, a large country house dining room dominated by a huge dining table in Acts I and II, and the same set, now a different color and with different chairs for the table, for the Gremins' Moscow palace in Act III. The duel, believe it or not, occurs in that dining room. Lensky is not shot on purpose by Onegin but accidentally when the two men struggle for a single rifle. This is so badly staged that I had to replay it in order to figure out what had happened. It appeared to me that Lensky simply fell dead -- onto that damned long table -- without a shot being fired.This is the only production or DVD of Eugene Onegin where I didn't care a whit for any of the protagonists. True, one can read Pushkin's novel without identifying with or even much liking his main characters, but Tchaikovsky softened this (largely with that glorious music) so that one really does care for all three of the opera's main characters.There is a negligible 26-minute 'documentary' of additional material filmed during the preparation of the Paris production.Total time: Opera 150mins; documentary 26mins; Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Russian; Audio: PCM Stereo, DD5.1, DTS5.1; Region code: 0 (worldwide)Scott Morrison