A must for all lovers of dramatic, full-length ballets

photo: Wang Chong Wei

John Cranko's Onegin holds a special place in the choreographic repertoire of the second half of the 20th century as one of the few original full-length ballets. Based on Alexander Pushkin's dramatic verse novel „Eugen Onegin", the ballet tells the story of the arrogant and world weary aristocrat Onegin who rejects the love of the naïve country girl Tatiana only to realize - upon meeting her again years later - that in her he threw away the only woman who ever truly loved him and who was ever worth loving. Tatiana, by now matured and married to Prince Gremin, must battle with her emotions when Onegin seeks her out to confess his love. In one of the most heart wrenching scenes in all of classical ballet, Tatiana rejects Onegin although she secretly still loves him.

John Cranko's absolute mastery of the art of the pas de deux finds its climax in Onegin, where each of the three main encounters between Onegin and Tatiana is so skillfully crafted and so superbly nuanced that by the final scene, the audience finds itself hopelessly caught up in the protagonists' emotional turmoil. Set to sweeping music by Peter I. Tschaikovsky, and with lavish sets and costumes evoking 19th century Russia by Juergen Rose, Onegin is a must for all lovers of dramatic, full-length ballets.

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/a-z/onegin/

photos (from upper left): Wang Chong Wei, Roman Novitzky, Chen li