Onegin kills Lensky not in a duel, but by accident, and in the finale he tries to shoot himself. Tatiana, in a fit of emotion, knocks over chairs and climbs onto the table, and sings a romance with Olga with her back to the audience. A huge box without a front wall is placed on the stage, in which the action unfolds, and in almost the same scenery, only the color scheme changes - both the ball and the duel, and even the scene with the letter take place in a hall with a huge dining table. These are the features of the new version of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin" at the Bolshoi Theater.
The performance was staged by opera director Dmitry Chernyakov, who in recent years has received "Golden Masks" for four performances at once: Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin of Fevronia" at the Mariinsky, Stravinsky's "The Adventure of the Rake" at the Bolshoi, Verdi's "Aida" at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater and the dramatic play "Double Impermanence" Marivaux at the Novosibirsk Academic Youth Theater "Globus". Now Chernyakov acted as the set designer of Onegin. The conductor is Alexander Vedernikov, the Bolshoi's musical director. The lighting designer is Gleb Filshtinsky, who participated in the creation of more than 200 musical and dramatic performances and worked a lot in collaboration with Chernyakov.
Such forms of implementation of the staged approach are certainly not related to the desire to shock the audience. For this purpose, in modern theater, it is necessary to invent more effective theatrical techniques. Let's remember at least the opening of the last premiere season at the Bolshoi. British director Graham Wick had real cars on stage in Mozart's "Magic Flute", characters in police uniforms acted, three Marilyn Monroe at once, and an ultra-modern solarium served as an initiation tool. The super task of the directors of "Eugene Onegin" was repeatedly voiced on the eve of the premiere by Chernyakov — this is sincerity. This goal is achieved primarily by the chamber, modernity of the production, the strengthening of the dramatic component of the opera and the imitation of natural life by the actors on the stage.
The most controversial "tool" in this quartet is an attempt to modernize the production. No, of course, Onegin does not flaunt jeans, and Tatiana does not text her lover (as gossips threatened before the premiere), but the authors are not interested in historical authenticity either. "In our performance, it's not so important at all how the characters are dressed," Vedernikov admitted. The costumes and decorations only point to the recent past. According to the production designer Maria Danilova, in her work she relied on books on the history of costume of the XX century - starting in 1914 and ending in the 50s.
The essence of the changes is more subtle, but also more serious, since the libretto has been significantly changed. As already mentioned, the duel itself, one of the central events of Pushkin's novel and Tchaikovsky's opera, in fact, did not happen. Onegin, in an attempt to force Lensky to take away the hunting rifle, which they have one for two, fights with the poet and accidentally kills him, which, of course, changes the semantic shades in the opera (although the director, speaking generally about the performance, declares that he only "articulated what is embedded inside the opera"). Chernyakov explains the reason for this approach by the lack of modernity of the duel: "This is a thing that is not clear to today's audience, so it needs to be removed from the play."
Other "instruments" that Chernyakov chose in order to make Tchaikovsky's opera close to a modern person should be considered more successful. The directors listened to the music, drew attention to the genre characteristic given to "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky himself - "lyrical scenes", and decided to stage the opera in the first edition, which the composer wrote for the conservatory. Subsequently, for the imperial stage, Tchaikovsky was forced to make changes to the score, and significant ones from the point of view of the interpretation of the work, in particular, he changed the tempo. The singers involved in the current production and singing "Eugene Onegin" in a later edition say how difficult it is to abandon, for example, fermat and in general the emphatically grotesque manner of performance and not think about the fact that this is a landmark opera for Russian art and the "calling card" of the Bolshoi Theater, but above all about the state of the souls of their heroes. The singers showed a high dramatic level. This, without a doubt, is a great advantage of the performance. So, Makvala Kasrashvili (Larina), speaking about the performance, said: "Yes, I really rather not sing the part, but play the role" (and very vividly - RBC). Andrei Dunaev (Lensky), a former staff soloist of the Bolshoi, who is now singing at the Deutche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, was especially good both in singing and acting. Interesting work was shown by Tatiana Monogarova, who performed the role of Tatiana at the last premiere of "Onegin" at La Scala, Pole Mariusz Kwechen, an experienced singer of international class. The orchestra conducted by Vedernikov was sensitive and precise.
Another important feature is the naturalness of the characters' lives on stage, as much as possible in such an over—the-top genre as opera (although Chernyakov, by his own admission, is trying to draw parallels with the close-up used in cinema and liken the scene to a film pavilion). Revolutionary transformations have been made in this regard: actors often sing while standing with their backs to the audience and addressing their partner at the back of the stage. This was made possible thanks to the technological nature of the performance: the scenery is made so that it reflects the sound. The intimacy and lyricism are emphasized by the pale yellow tones of the scenery and costumes, the absence of bright theatrical special effects. However, in some places Chernyakov erred against naturalness, for example, in a wild scene with a letter, where Tatiana sometimes throws chairs, then walks on the table. The table generally plays a special role in the play (it is not entirely clear why). He is involved in literally every scene, even in the scene with the letter, although Tatiana is supposed to be in her room at night. And it is absolutely strange to see a duel scene in the same hall - it is on the table that the murdered Lensky falls. By the way, on the eve of the premiere, theatergoers excitedly wondered if the poet would sing the aria "Where, where have you gone" in a fur hat. It turned out that you don't have to worry about this - the hat is in place. However, it looks like a parody, since the duel takes place not on the street, but in the Larins' house.
However, such minor flaws do not have a significant impact on the overall picture. The new Onegin has a strong energy, and its characters really evoke a sense of compassion, which is probably the most important thing.
Source.
The performance was staged by opera director Dmitry Chernyakov, who in recent years has received "Golden Masks" for four performances at once: Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin of Fevronia" at the Mariinsky, Stravinsky's "The Adventure of the Rake" at the Bolshoi, Verdi's "Aida" at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater and the dramatic play "Double Impermanence" Marivaux at the Novosibirsk Academic Youth Theater "Globus". Now Chernyakov acted as the set designer of Onegin. The conductor is Alexander Vedernikov, the Bolshoi's musical director. The lighting designer is Gleb Filshtinsky, who participated in the creation of more than 200 musical and dramatic performances and worked a lot in collaboration with Chernyakov.
Such forms of implementation of the staged approach are certainly not related to the desire to shock the audience. For this purpose, in modern theater, it is necessary to invent more effective theatrical techniques. Let's remember at least the opening of the last premiere season at the Bolshoi. British director Graham Wick had real cars on stage in Mozart's "Magic Flute", characters in police uniforms acted, three Marilyn Monroe at once, and an ultra-modern solarium served as an initiation tool. The super task of the directors of "Eugene Onegin" was repeatedly voiced on the eve of the premiere by Chernyakov — this is sincerity. This goal is achieved primarily by the chamber, modernity of the production, the strengthening of the dramatic component of the opera and the imitation of natural life by the actors on the stage.
The most controversial "tool" in this quartet is an attempt to modernize the production. No, of course, Onegin does not flaunt jeans, and Tatiana does not text her lover (as gossips threatened before the premiere), but the authors are not interested in historical authenticity either. "In our performance, it's not so important at all how the characters are dressed," Vedernikov admitted. The costumes and decorations only point to the recent past. According to the production designer Maria Danilova, in her work she relied on books on the history of costume of the XX century - starting in 1914 and ending in the 50s.
The essence of the changes is more subtle, but also more serious, since the libretto has been significantly changed. As already mentioned, the duel itself, one of the central events of Pushkin's novel and Tchaikovsky's opera, in fact, did not happen. Onegin, in an attempt to force Lensky to take away the hunting rifle, which they have one for two, fights with the poet and accidentally kills him, which, of course, changes the semantic shades in the opera (although the director, speaking generally about the performance, declares that he only "articulated what is embedded inside the opera"). Chernyakov explains the reason for this approach by the lack of modernity of the duel: "This is a thing that is not clear to today's audience, so it needs to be removed from the play."
Other "instruments" that Chernyakov chose in order to make Tchaikovsky's opera close to a modern person should be considered more successful. The directors listened to the music, drew attention to the genre characteristic given to "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky himself - "lyrical scenes", and decided to stage the opera in the first edition, which the composer wrote for the conservatory. Subsequently, for the imperial stage, Tchaikovsky was forced to make changes to the score, and significant ones from the point of view of the interpretation of the work, in particular, he changed the tempo. The singers involved in the current production and singing "Eugene Onegin" in a later edition say how difficult it is to abandon, for example, fermat and in general the emphatically grotesque manner of performance and not think about the fact that this is a landmark opera for Russian art and the "calling card" of the Bolshoi Theater, but above all about the state of the souls of their heroes. The singers showed a high dramatic level. This, without a doubt, is a great advantage of the performance. So, Makvala Kasrashvili (Larina), speaking about the performance, said: "Yes, I really rather not sing the part, but play the role" (and very vividly - RBC). Andrei Dunaev (Lensky), a former staff soloist of the Bolshoi, who is now singing at the Deutche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, was especially good both in singing and acting. Interesting work was shown by Tatiana Monogarova, who performed the role of Tatiana at the last premiere of "Onegin" at La Scala, Pole Mariusz Kwechen, an experienced singer of international class. The orchestra conducted by Vedernikov was sensitive and precise.
Another important feature is the naturalness of the characters' lives on stage, as much as possible in such an over—the-top genre as opera (although Chernyakov, by his own admission, is trying to draw parallels with the close-up used in cinema and liken the scene to a film pavilion). Revolutionary transformations have been made in this regard: actors often sing while standing with their backs to the audience and addressing their partner at the back of the stage. This was made possible thanks to the technological nature of the performance: the scenery is made so that it reflects the sound. The intimacy and lyricism are emphasized by the pale yellow tones of the scenery and costumes, the absence of bright theatrical special effects. However, in some places Chernyakov erred against naturalness, for example, in a wild scene with a letter, where Tatiana sometimes throws chairs, then walks on the table. The table generally plays a special role in the play (it is not entirely clear why). He is involved in literally every scene, even in the scene with the letter, although Tatiana is supposed to be in her room at night. And it is absolutely strange to see a duel scene in the same hall - it is on the table that the murdered Lensky falls. By the way, on the eve of the premiere, theatergoers excitedly wondered if the poet would sing the aria "Where, where have you gone" in a fur hat. It turned out that you don't have to worry about this - the hat is in place. However, it looks like a parody, since the duel takes place not on the street, but in the Larins' house.
However, such minor flaws do not have a significant impact on the overall picture. The new Onegin has a strong energy, and its characters really evoke a sense of compassion, which is probably the most important thing.
Source.
Bolshoi Theatre: "Eugene Onegin" in a modern way
RBC, September 4, 2006
