WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU WISH TO FIND OUT THE STORY FOR YOURSELF, DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER!
For my mother's birthday today, I decided to take her to the opera. It was a new Metropolitan Opera production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most famous opera Eugene Onegin. I have already written about the full plot line of the opera, but since this was my second time seeing it live (abiet simulcasted in movie theater), I figured I'd compare and contrast the Madison Opera production, and the new Met production.
First of all, how are they similar? Here's one: The chorus in Act 3 were wearing mostly the same colors. The idea is that high society, while opulent and glamorous, is ultimately pointless. And the clothes reflect that. The aging Prince Gremin says that the reason he married Tatyana in the first place was because she was different from all the phonies he's surrounded by all the time. Tatyana doesn't play all the social games that are associated with the aristocracy; thus she is a breath of fresh air for Gremin.
Secondly, the baritones who sang the role of Onegin were very good, not to mention utterly sexy. I was up in the nosebleed section at the Overture Center in Madison when I saw this two Novembers ago, so it was a little hard to see Hyung Yun's face. Nonetheless, I was still able to see how he portrayed Onegin, especially in the duel scene and the final act. I thought Yun did a splendid job showing the effects of Onegin's self-centered behavior. Mariusz Kwiecien, who has performed the role of Onegin throughout Europe, also brought out Onegin's selfish and entitled attitude towards life.
Heck, both productions featured amazingly talented performers. I don't think there's any sort of difference in quality between Maria Kanyova's Tatyana and Anna Netrebko's interpretation of the role. And both productions had Vladamir Lensky wearing glasses, though in the one I saw today, he only put them on to read and to duel.
Third off and finally, both had birch trees on the Larin estate. I don't know if that particular species is common in Russia, or if it was easy to draw. Whatever the reason, both had birch trees.
Now on to the differences, of which their are many. I will only mention three very notable ones.
Number 1: The setting was updated from the 1820'whatever to 1890 for the simulcast production. The sets were extremely spacious given the fact that it is Tchaikovsky opera; if you'll recall, Tchaikovsky was the premier writer of dance music is Russian musical history (seriously, is there a single ballet company in the Western Hemisphere that does not perform The Nutcracker every Christmas?). The clothes were all from the Victorian period in history.
Number 2: Tatyana's birthday party is always done differently, but usually productions feature nonstop dancing throughout the waltz sequence. The production at Overture Center had people sitting at tables, dancing, feasting, that sort of thing. The Met production opened Act 2 with Tatyana and her neighbors reenacting the martyrdom of Saint Tatiana of Rome,* then onto some dancing.
Also, Mousier Triquet, usually short and plump(ish), was tall, skinny, and very awkward. I'm guessing the tenor had some sort of leg injury because they used a brace as part of the costume (the director could have also planned to have Triquet walk with a slight limp). You know, short and fat or tall and skinny, Mousier Triquet is always portrayed as incredibly over the top and ridiculous.
This production put a twist on Lensky's challenging Onegin to a duel. The Madison Opera production did the usual Throw-Down-The-Glove-When-You-Challenge-Someone-To-A-Duel business with Madame Larina picking up the glove when she begs the two men not to fight in her house. In the Met production, Lensky threw down his poetry book as the challenge. Onegin did not pick it up,but accepted Lensky's challenge (can someone please explain why they used hunting rifles for Duel Scene rather than pistols?).
Number 3: The final scene was way different in that the Met production set the scene just outside the palace instead of Tatyana's boudoir. In this scene, Onegin, who spent much of the previous scene drinking, came onstage and threw himself at Tatyana's feet. He was much more disheveled than in most productions. Hyung Yun's portrayal showed an impulsive young man who was still in control of his senses when he tried to get Tatyana to run away with him. So that was very interesting.
I would like to say a few words about Mariusz Kweicien's portrayal of Onegin, and Anna Netrebko's portrayal of Tatyana. In her letter scene, Tatyana thrashes about when she thinks about her passion for Onegin and whether or not she should write her letter to him. She is an impulsive teenager, but she is also very much honest in her confession. In Act 3, after Tatyana has been married to Prince Gremin, Onegin finds himself besotted by the woman, and thrashes about the same way Tatyana did, except that he's been drinking quite a bit and so his thrashing looks a lot more like it's from clumsiness rather than from excited passion.
In the scene where he gives Tatyana his famous lecture, he snarfs an apple from a crate of produce that the peasant women brought in. He also condescendingly kisses Tatyana on the mouth before he leaves. Kwiecien said in the interview following Act 1 that Onegin kisses Tatyana because she is a beautiful girl and he can't resist lovely women (he was also still eating the apple he took from the crate). In the final scene, just before she leaves him forever, Tatyana kisses Onegin on the mouth as well. But this time around she's saying, "I still love you, but I'm not leaving my husband."
I would also like to indulge in a fangirl moment. Piotr Beczala as Lensky--I just can't say enough about him. He was so darn hot with those nerd glasses he had for the role. He splendidly captured the eighteen-year-old poet's wide-eyed romantic idealism and and impulsive jealousy, not to mention a very well performed death scene at the end of Act 2. And Mariusz Kwiecien, even he can make a stuck-up, self-absorbed jerk who thinks the world exists solely for his own personal entertainment look awesome.
Special mention goes to mezzo-soprano Elena Zaremba who was our Madame Larina this season. Last time she sang Eugene Onegin at the Met back in '07, she sang the role of Tatyana's sister Olga. And Okasna Volkova was perfect as Olga this year.
The folks at the Met have said that Eugene Onegin a tragedy of mistimed love. That is not correct. Instead the tragedy stems from a rich young man's It's-All-About-Me attitude toward life and toward other people. Even by the final scene he has still not learned his lesson and tries to make Tatyana throw away her respectability and her marriage for him. Why? Because it's all about him he thinks. It has nothing to do with timing.
For more information about the Madison opera production, read the post from November 2011. A review of the Met performance is next.
_______________________________________________________________________ *Actually, I didn't even know that the Russian Orthodox Church had feast days for saints. I thought that was strictly a Catholic trademark!
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