Eugène Onéguine

This Bolshoi Opera production was filmed in Paris last year. It has some splendid singing by four of the principals, and some pretty poor singing by the rest of the cast. The sets are not very imaginative--the first two acts take place in a dining room--and the costumes are rather nondescript (but not offensive). One major drawback: the duel is held not at "a rustic water mill on the banks of a stream" as the tradition has it, but indoors, which creates a real mess with regards to scene blocking. It has to be seen to be believed.

Thankfully there is the rising star Mariusz Kwiecien as Onegin, slight, nervous, cold and very compelling. You can see why Tatiana falls for him. Tatiana Monogarova as the love-struck girl is ineffective for the first two acts but redeems herself in the third. She goes from dull and depressed to emotional and realistic. Anatoli Kachorga's third act aria is wonderful. This is Gremin as a vital man, not feeble at all. Andrei Dunaev as Lenski does very well, even though he is the chief victim of the poor staging.