*Onegin* at ABT, June 23 2026

Donna and I saw *Onegin* at American Ballet Theatre on June 23, 2026. I was curious to see it because it's an adaptation of the Pushkin novel *Eugene Onegin* with a score by Tchaikovsky - - I know the Tchaikovsky opera of *Onegin* very well and had just seen it at the Met in April so I was curious to see what the ballet would be like.

The surprise is that the score is an assembly of Tchaikovsky (arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze) but doesn't appear to feature any of the music from the opera. There are quite a few orchestra-only moments in the opera that would work very well in a ballet so I don't know why they didn't use them. I was especially cranky not to hear the Polonaise that starts the St. Petersburg scene, it's practically my favorite music in the opera and would be killer in a ballet. Instead they used some other random Tchaikovsky Polonaise. Whatever.

Let me give you a brief overview of the story. Onegin is a bored gentleman. He's in the country visiting his friend Lensky and Lensky brings him to visit his friends the Larins. Lensky is in love with the younger daughter, Olga - - the older daughter, Tatiana, is quiet and bookish. She of course falls in love with Onegin. She writes him a letter, confessing her love for him. He turns her down in the rudest way.

Sometime later there's a party for Tatiana's name day. Onegin is bored and decides to flirt and dance with Olga. Olga is up for a good time so she indulges him a bit. Lensky, her boyfriend, is infuriated and challenges Onegin to a duel. Onegin kills Lensky in the duel.

Years later, Onegin is in St. Petersburg. He goes to a ball chez Prince Gremin and is floored to see that Gremin is married to Tatiana. She's glamorous and poised, not at all the country girl he had known. Now it's HIS turn to fall in love with HER. And thank you, HER turn to give him the brush off.

Donna had a better summation of the story: "She was perfectly happy reading her book and this guy comes along and ruins everything."

The choreography is by John Cranko, he created it in 1965 for the Stuttgart Ballet. I was impressed with how much expression he built into the dancing. Our favorite moment was part of a group number in the first scene - - the men and women danced across the stage in pairs, on a diagonal. The men unobtrusively held the women by the waist so the women could kick their legs into a near-horizontal, over and over. It was a thrilling moment, it looked like they were flying.

Onegin was the star of the show, beautifully danced by Thomas Forster. He was always costumed in black and had a general aura of being remote, aloof, above it all. This of course made him very attractive to Tatiana - - and to me! Here are a few clips of Forster in the role last year at the Kennedy Center:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDw81_WTHf4BA&v=w81_WTHf4BA

The Kennedy Center used the same production as ABT with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto, who I know from being the production designer for more or less every Woody Allen movie since *Radio Days* in 1987. The design was stellar, opulent and gorgeous to look at while still communicating the story.

Chloe Misseldine played Tatiana. She was wonderful, she captured the deep romance of her part and her transformation from sweet country girl to a grand princess. Donna and I were surprised that she was given the most prominent part in the curtain calls - - we both thought Onegin was the central character. I don't think he even got a solo bow. Maybe that's a ballet thing that I don't understand.