"Onegin" with the American Ballet Theater

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2026 14:23

Written by Jack Angstreich

Devon Teuscher and Aran Bell in Onegin. Photo: Steven Pisano.

At Lincoln Center’s wonderful Metropolitan Opera House, on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 24th, I had the privilege to attend a marvelous performance of American Ballet Theater’s fine production of John Cranko’s undervalued Onegin, from 1965,setto a score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky arranged by Kurt-Heinz Stolze, here admirably conducted by veteran David LaMarche. (It is notable that the music is not drawn from the composer's magnificent opera, Eugene Onegin—adapted from the canonical verse novel by Alexander Pushkin—but from various others of his works. This literary source might have provided the interesting basis for a film by Max Ophuls or Luchino Visconti.) This performance was a worthy sequel to the previous week’s presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with Skylar Brandt and Herman Cornejo.

Cranko is known to me for his delightful, also misappreciated staging of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella which was a superb vehicle for the extraordinary David Hallberg as the Prince; lamentably, that production has been replaced although, fortunately, with an even more beautiful production choreographed by the legendary Frederick Ashton. The ABT production of Onegin was staged by Jane Bourne, supervised by Reid Anderson and Tamas Detrich. The attractive sets and costumes were designed by the celebrated Santo Loquasto, and the effective lighting by James F. Ingalls.

The primary cast at this performance was exceptional, with the abundantly talented Aran Bell in the title role, partnered by the fabulous Devon Teuscher as Tatiana. (I have seen these roles danced by the unforgettable Hallberg and Hee Seo but Bell and Teuscher were not very far behind in their achievement here.) The secondary cast was also fine, including Calvin Royal III as the poet Lensky, Onegin’s friend and even more remarkable was the brilliant Catherine Hurlin as Olga. Prince Gremin, the friend of the Larina family, was danced by Joseph Markey, with Claire Davison as the widow Madame Larina and Isadora Loyola as the nurse of her daughters. The terrific corps de ballet was, of course, characteristically indelible.

The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic, standing ovation.

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