After five years, Onegin returns at the Bayerisches Staatsballett

National Theatre, Munich
January 12, 2024

When I go to see a ballet I know well and have seen many times, I do not expect to watch something new. It is usually rather more like seeing a familiar theme, perhaps with a few new variations, which could be a different tempo in a duet or a new phrasing of certain movement. But watching the Bayerisches Staatsballett in John Cranko’s Onegin really did feel like watching a new ballet.

Onegin had its premiere with Stuttgart Ballet in 1965. It has been in the repertoire of the Bayerisches Staatsballett since 1972, and this season Reid Anderson restaged it with the company after a five-year interlude. Anderson is a first-hand Cranko expert. He danced with Stuttgart Ballet from 1969 to 1986, one of his first roles with the company being Prince Gremin in Onegin. From 1996 to 2018 he was then the company’s artistic director, and has staged Cranko’s ballets all over the world.

Anderson has brought a freshness to the Staatsballett performance. He’s not only brought out strong characters on a journey through complicated emotions, which the dancers do brilliantly, but has also made visible the ballet’s two clashing worlds. The Petersburg nobility, a homogeneous society, is characterised by a lightness, whose only concern seems to be finding suitable husbands for their daughters, whom they show off at lavishing balls. Here, the women soar in intricate lifts looking weightless in the hands of their noble partners. In contrast, Onegin’s world is burdened and heavy. He often walks and reluctantly participates in the festivities, which seem to bore him. In this superficial society, he is an intruder bent on causing havoc.

Margarita Fernandes is a sprightly Olga, a perfect match to António Casalinho’s carefree Lensky. In Act I, She leads the group of young women with great musicality. Lensky introduces himself by whirling around with high jumps. Their duets are loving and playful, giving you the feeling of witnessing very intimate and private moments. When he lifts her, she seems to float as if in a dream.

That feeling dissipates when Olga responds to Onegin’s advances in Act II, however. The scene develops like a crescendo. Onegin’s movements become faster and increasingly frenetic until stopped by Lensky’s glove, the call for a duel. The emotional outburst sent shivers down my spine.

Laurretta Summerscales, Tatiana, went through an incredible emotional development. She was magnificent, Her dancing seemed to defy gravity when, as a dreamy young woman, she imagined a noble and loving Onegin in her bedroom, and later as the wife of Prince Gremin, Matteo Dilaghi. Their duet at the ball showed a relationship full of respect and genuine love. Shortly before she leaves the ballroom, she discovers Onegin among the guests. With a glance over her shoulder, she looks at him as an episode from the past rather than any sense of almost uncontrollable longing as in some productions.

Tatiana’s last duet with Onegin is an extraordinary display of emotions. He enters and submits himself to her. At first, she resists his pleas, then hesitantly gives in, totally succumbing, before she gets the better of herself and sends him away. She is devastated, but the scene closes with her standing upright with her fists clenched at her sides; the moment she realizes she has made the right decision.

Onegin, Osiel Gouneo, is an excellent actor. He was noble but menacing throughout except for a few moments in which he displayed some kind of remorse or gentleness. One such is when he falls to his knees and covers his face after Lensky has called the duel, another when he tries to persuade Lensky to cancel it. At Prince Gremin’s party he walks around as if he has lost his direction in life. Until he sees Tatiana again. He enters her room breathlessly, pleads with her. But as soon as he senses that she might comply with his wishes, with almost with brutal determination, he draws her close and kisses her. He does not ask, he insists, and the moment he feels he gets his way, his whole body says, ‘yes, I did it.’ Just one of the many small moments that take the dust off the now more than fifty years-old ballet.

The Bayerisches Staatsballett is maintaining the very high level of technical proficiency and expressive dance with which they concluded last season. In an interview before the premiere, Anderson compared the dancers to those of Paris, London and American Ballet Theatre. He quoted Cranko in saying, “Many dancers are able to do the steps, but only a few are able to dance the story.” The Staatsballett belongs to the latter group, and for their performance were rewarded with a standing ovation.