OPERA REVIEW
First act spoils 'Eugene Onegin' premiere
By Gregory Shepherd
Advertiser Classical Music Critic
It's never a good sign when the most exciting thing about an opera production is the dancing. That said, Friday night's Hawai'i Opera Theatre premiere of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" got progressively better after an opening act that had all the freshness of a day-old blini.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Sung in Russian, the opera takes up the age-old issues of love, friendship, aging and regret: the title character finally comes to his senses too late after spurning a simple country girl (Tatiana) who adores him, and killing his best friend (Lensky) in a jealous duel along the way.
With Gregg Lizenbery's choreography, dance scenes in the Hawaii Opera Theatre production of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" punctuated the evening with much-needed exclamation points.
But Tchaikovsky's setting of this plot too often bogs down in long, tedious scenes that seem to drag out forever, the first act being an almost unrelieved snoozefest.
Equipped with a rich, sonorous baritone voice and good stage instincts, David Templeton does more than credible work in conveying the world-weary arrogance of the title character.
Aimee Willis as Tatiana has a similarly high level of vocal and dramatic talent, and their work together had moments of real chemistry on Friday. Tenor George Dyer's Lensky also was quite good, and of the three main characters, he brought the most passion to his part.
Elena Bocharova plays Olga, Lensky's main squeeze, and the high notes of her mezzo-soprano voice were impressive, although her lower register was occasionally drowned out by the orchestra.
Surprisingly, the best vocal work was turned in by those in smaller roles, in particular Philip Cokorinos as Prince Gremin. His third act aria about his love for Tatiana brought the most enthusiastic applause for a singer of the evening and for good reason. Matthew Lau also had a fine night as Zaretsky, Lensky's second in the duel with Onegin.
'Eugene Onegin'
Judith Christian, Dorothy Byrne, James Price and Joe Francher all turned in lively performances.
Stage direction by Dejan Miladinovic did little to work against the tedium of the score, with characters too often just standing in one place while they sang. The HOT Chorus was a delightful exception to the general rule of boredom, and the stage came alive every time the chorus occupied it.
Gregg Lizenbery's choreography of the aforementioned dancers punctuated the evening with much-needed exclamation points.
William Fred Scott's direction of the Honolulu Symphony in the pit brought out the rich sonorities of Tchaikovsky's score but too often at the expense of the singers, many of whom were occasionally drowned out.
The spare and dimly lit scenery by Peter Dean Beck consists largely of three set-pieces of topless birch trees which whirl around and around for no apparent reason. Perhaps it's symbolic of something. Or perhaps it was a way of getting some excitement into an evening where not even Onegin's dueling pistol went off when it should have.
Gregory Shepherd has been the Advertiser's classical music critic since 1987.
