Am I really the only one who has been to see 'Onegin' this week? I am surprised that there have been no comments so far.<BR>I thought Mara Galeazzi was absolutely wonderful on Monday night. Her every movement was so expressive that you could not help but suffer along with her 'Tatiana'. Her partnership with Adam Cooper came off very well and his partnering skills enabled her to recklessly throw caution to the wind wich was especially noticeable in the bedroom pas de deux at the end of act 1.<P>Jane Burn only recently returned from a long injury absence made her debut as Olga with Ivan Putrov as Lensky. The two of them each danced beautifuly on their own but were clearly very uncomfortable partnering each other probably due to lack of rehearsal time.<BR>Nevertheless it was good to see Jane back in action and I hope to see more of her. She seems like a talented dance actress to me.<BR>Ivan was technically brilliant as usual but for some reason I was not as moved by for example Lensky's solo before the duel as I had been by some performances last winter.<P>Has anyone else seen this or any other cast?

I went to see Alina and Johan last night. I'd planned to go to Mara and Adam tonight but I have tickets for Friday and Saturday as well and I'm much too tired to travel to London 4 nights in a row!<P>Alina and Johan were excellent. They have an extraordinary partnership and the way they respond to each is is just beautiful to watch. It took me a little while to get into the ballet but by the final pdd, the way they were clinging to each other, I was incredibly moved. Just a niggling point - all those six o'clock penchees arabesques Alina did. It reminded me of her Juliet - impressive but not always pretty. <P>I had some doubts about Ivan Putrov and Jane Burn. Their Act I pdd looked shaky and Ivan had some noisy landings and looked really tired. Likewise for the corps, there didn't seem to be any energy, there were mistakes and missed moments. But I can't be too critical - I can't imagine coming off a big tour, and straight into rehearsals for three 3-act ballets.<P>The turning point for me was Ivan's Act II solo. The last time I saw it danced so well was with Ethan Stiefel back in November. It was a huge, huge improvement on his previous performances. His arabesques, his turns and jumps were so strong and secure, and his arms and body seemed to be weighted down with despair. Really, it couldn't have been danced any better. I like how he's grown out his hair too! - a very foppish, Hugh Grant kinda do. <P>Anyway, am looking forward very much to seeing Yseult Lendvai tomorrow and Martin Harvey the day after.

Review from The Independent.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Cheers greeted the Royal Ballet's reopening at Covent Garden after its Australian tour. I do not like to be the bad fairy at the party, but a few reservations are in order. John Cranko's Onegin was the ballet, one of this season's new productions, and a very welcome one. The combination of Pushkin's story, music by Tchaikovsky (not his opera, but an excellent arrangement of shorter pieces that are well suited to dancing) and Cranko's vivid, dramatic choreography is enjoyable irrespective of how it is performed. The problem is, that last proviso ought not to be necessary.<P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/story.jsp?story=316045" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>

19/7/02<BR>I didn't have very high expectations after the lukewarm reviews Yseult Lendvai got but I've had a complete turn-around. How many times am I allowed to say "that was the best I've ever seen!"? Because I think I've already overstepped my quota. I was all hyped up to fawn over Tewsley again, but I'm going to write about Lenvai instead. She danced THE BEST Tatiana I have ever seen. In my eyes she actually outshone Tewsley, and if you've seen my past posts of him you'll know that's a near impossible feat!<P>Lenvai - she's luminous. You can't take your eyes off of her. She isn't classically beautiful and without a smile her face she can look pretty grim. At the start her Tatiana is a cold fish, stern, almost school-marmish. She has been untouched by passion. Even her interactions with Olga are cool and not so affectionate - very different from the very warmth the RB dancers have shown. In fact, this Tatiana rarely smiles, and when she looks into the looking glass, she sees a plain Jane and her disappointment is obvious. She does not see a future with love. <P>But when Onegin lifts her for the first time, the transformation is amazing. She has this sudden intake of breath, breaking into a smile, and she looks like she's overwhelmed with new emotions. Tatiana suddenly blossoms and becomes beautiful. These things, yes I've seen in Rojo, Cojocaru, Galeazzi, etc, but never with the kind of clarity that Lendvai has. There is nothing forced about her acting and she is so utterly unique. And it's curious to see how differently she dances the role to the others. Those four flying lifts in the mirror pdd for example, she makes such beautiful shapes in the air with her legs. And watching her here made me realise how unfinished Cojocaru's Tatiana is, which I had always loved. It's so hard to describe how much better Lendvai's dancing is, but she is in a completely different class. She is a brilliant actress - dragging Onegin behind her in the final pdd, she seemed to break into tears with such terrible pain in her face. And she just has this resonance, this maturity that I've never seen with the others, though it may have a lot to do with the greater experience she has with the role. In Act III, when she entered the ballroom with Gremin, everything about her, her face, her poise, her dancing, was true royalty. I have to confess I've snoozed through this pdd before but with Lendvai I was riveted. Can I say again, that was the best Tatiana I have ever seen!<P>Ok, everyone else. I have to confess, I was barely watching Tewsley at all. His dancing and acting was as usual excellent, and the electricity between the two of them was terrific. I've posted about him before. 'Nuff said. <P>I REALLY enjoyed Belinda Hatley's Olga. On par with Cojocaru and Nunez. Hatley is so graceful, so musical, with a very expressive face. She was petulant and immature without losing her sweetness. Hatley makes a good match with Johannes Stepanek, her Lensky. Their pdd was a dream to watch. I was very impressed with Stepanek. He had such a sweetness to him in his first solo, and it's a wonder that it is he who is infatuated with her and not the other way around. I liked his different shades of moods - when Onegin started flirting with Olga, the way he went from good humour, to tolerance, to unease and then hurt, the way he manfully tried to put a brave face on, and how young he seemed at that moment. It made his motive for challenging Onegin seem much clearer. Like it stemmed from his immaturity, trying to mask it and be a real man. His solo was very nice, a little wobbly I thought! <P>A really fantastic evening, probably one of my best, and I would love to see Lendvai guest again. I'm very sorry that she only had two performances. I'm tempted to write to the director and ask him to ask her to stay! <P>It was a full house which is what all the dancers deserve. I was a bit disgruntled to hear that all tickets on their Tuesday performance were half-price - unheard of at the ROH except when performances are selling particularly badly. London just doesn't know what it missed. Did anyone else see this wonderful cast?

Review in The Sunday Times.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Royal Ballet is back at Covent Garden for the closing weeks of its season, following a strenuous Australian tour that took its toll in injuries. So last week’s reprise run of John Cranko’s romantic drama Onegin, which proved the most welcome addition to the repertory this season, opened with a reshuffled and not entirely cohesive cast. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-358538,00.html" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><P>And in The Observer.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Royal Ballet is back from its Australian tour with a summer season of audience-pleasers, starting with John Cranko's Onegin. <P>Although the ballet gets off to a creaky start, it delivers the goods by the end. <BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,758975,00.html" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><p>[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited July 21, 2002).]

Martin Harvey and Mara Galeazzi – I was really excited about this performance because it was Martin’s Onegin debut, (his first principal role of any kind?). There were some dicey moments during the mirror pdd and I thought he was suffering from nerves or something so I wasn't as 'into' it as normal. I was watching ‘Martin dance Onegin’ rather than getting absorbed into the character. But overall, I was very impressed. It was very good for his first big role. He has always had a charisma on stage that makes him stand out from the other dancers and this was magnified by the weight of the role. I honestly thought he might be too sweet for Onegin but a good haircut stripped off those boyish layers and he really looked a man, taller even! with really strong presence. He has an old-fashioned kind of elegance, an aura that actually makes him look much more at home in this period than anyone else I've seen. Acting-wise I was very convinced. Can I add that he even got Yseult Lendvai's endorsement the night before? Act III was excellent – his Onegin wasn’t as sick with obsession as the others were, but no less passionate. It was a purer kind of love, though nerves and stamina did seem to get the better of him at times. I see SO much potential in him, I really wish he had more than one performance because I want to see what more he can do with the role, and who knows how long it will be before Onegin is back. Anyway I am VERY happy he was given this role.<P>Mara Galeazzi's Tatiana was lovely. I wasn’t a huge fan after her performances in January. Back then, to me she over-emoted – it was too strong from the stalls. But she’s really toned it down. She’s gentler, more beautiful and has really grown into the role. I liked her Tatiana, and she and Martin look really good together, though to be truthful I wasn’t paying so much attention to her. I wanted to take in as much of Martin's performance as possible! It's hard to figure out what to watch sometimes. Like in the ballroom scenes, do you watch Onegin dancing with Olga? Or Tatiana with Gremin, looking at him longingly? Or Lensky on the sides, watching his jealously grow? But back to Mara, in the mirror pdd, and especially in the pdd with Gremin I was really impressed. And the way her arms were trembling as the curtain came down, the terrible expression on her face – wow. Martin seemed so happy at the end and in the first curtain call he rushed out and plopped a big sloppy kiss on Mara's lips!

Sylvi - your description of Miss Lendvais superlative Tatiana is tremendously evocative and absolutely correct. Thank you.