Ballet is an art without words, one that tells stories through a poetic alchemy of movement and music. And in a summer season inspired by literature鈥攆rom the visionary novels of Virginia Woolf to epic Shakespearean tragedy and the magical realism of Laura Esquivel鈥� American Ballet Theatre will bring poetry to life in the evening-length drama Onegin (June 18鈥�22). Based on Alexander Pushkin鈥檚 verse-novel Eugene Onegin, the ballet was choreographed by John Cranko for Stuttgart Ballet in 1965 and set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.
Passionate and tragic, philosophical yet glamorous, Eugene Onegin captivated Russian readers when it debuted, between 1825 and 1832, in serial form in magazines. Pushkin was only in his mid-20s at the time鈥攔oughly the same age as his protagonist, a haughty, cynical dandy with newly inherited wealth. Bored with St. Petersburg high society, Onegin moves to the countryside seeking new intrigue and the company of his best friend, Viktor Lensky, a dreamy young poet engaged to the teenage Olga Larina.
When Olga鈥檚 elder sister, the bookish and starry-eyed Tatiana, meets Onegin, she experiences real love for the first time鈥攂ut he cruelly rejects Tatiana, flirts scandalously with Olga, and taunts Lensky into a fatal duel. One tragedy follows another as Onegin grapples with his conflicted soul, and he realizes too late, in the ballet鈥檚 shattering final scene, what he has lost.
鈥淚 consider this Cranko鈥檚 masterpiece,鈥� says Principal Dancer Hee Seo, who first danced the role of Tatiana in 2012. 鈥淲e鈥檝e probably all felt this kind of love鈥攜our first love, and then the love that you wish you had but you can鈥檛.鈥�
Lost love is a timeless theme in ballet鈥�Giselle and Swan Lake are just two familiar examples鈥攂ut while Cranko created Onegin using classical steps, Onegin is a modern ballet. It has ballroom scenes and bedroom scenes, but there is no grand pas de deux, no fish-dives, no 32 fouett茅s. 鈥淚nstead of the emphasis being on the technique,鈥� says Seo, 鈥渢he emphasis is on the storytelling side of it.鈥�
Principal Dancer Cory Stearns agrees. 鈥淭his ballet is a dancer鈥檚 ballet,鈥� says Stearns. 鈥淚t is beloved by artists throughout the world鈥攊t says something that so many master artists love performing this ballet.鈥�
On the surface Onegin seems like a villain, but he is far more complex and relatable than that, says Stearns. 鈥淗e鈥檚 lost, unhappy, depressed. He鈥檚 trying to find his purpose,鈥� and the role requires dramatic nuance as well as technical prowess. In the opening scene, for example, when Onegin disdains Tatiana鈥檚 schoolgirl affections, eye movements and lyrical gestures reveal his frame of mind. 鈥淗e needs to express this discontent, he needs to be aloof but not rude,鈥� says Stearns, who likens Cranko鈥檚 style to Kenneth MacMillan鈥檚 Manon. 鈥淚 do these pirouettes, and my hand goes to my head numerous times. It鈥檚 not abstract, and that directness makes it easier to understand what the characters are experiencing at any moment.鈥�
As with any story ballet, the score is as essential to the storytelling as the choreography. Here as well, Onegin stands apart from the classical repertoire. Cranko and orchestrator Kurt-Heinz Stolze created the score using mostly lesser-known Tchaikovsky pieces, which Stolze artfully wove together by creating leitmotivs, foreshadowing, and a musical through line that carries the action forward. (While Tchaikovsky wrote the score for the 1879 opera Eugene Onegin, not a note of that music appears in Onegin.)
鈥淪tolze did an absolutely magnificent job,鈥� ABT Musical Director Ormsby Wilkins says of the score, which incorporates a cello nocturne, waltzes, mazurkas, piano cycles, and selections from operas. 鈥淚t seems completely natural,鈥� Wilkins says. 鈥淚t still sounds like Tchaikovsky, but it鈥檚 something that stands on its own.鈥� What remains intact is the music for Onegin鈥檚 spectacular finale, the powerful second movement from Francesca da Rimini. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 pure Tchaikovsky! Everything鈥檚 let loose at that point.鈥�
When the movement and music of Onegin come together, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a perfect poem,鈥� says Seo. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 anything extra鈥攊t鈥檚 just the right amount of 鈥榳ords鈥� to tell a perfect story.鈥�
