RB 'Onegin' reviews 'Onegin' reviews Cojocaru in reviews Kobborg in reviews recent RB reviews

This ballet looks fantastic. The sets are simply marvellous, and the costumes work perfectly (I particularly like the authentic RAF blue uniforms in Act III!). Act III in particular was gorgeous with that deep perspective. Masterful design - sumptuous in feel and realistic looking, yet simple and uncluttered as well. All of a sudden I felt that Julia Trevelyan Oman had a lot to learn.

I was very impressed with the choreography - I have read some criticism of the corps dances in various reviews, but I can't agree with it. I thought it worked very well indeed (particularly the end of Act I Scene I, where all of a sudden Olga and Lensky stopped being cardboard). The pdd struck me as much more imaginative than MacMillan - maybe imaginative is the wrong word. MacMillan's work has more posturing and writhing, less balleticism, it seems, and Cranko managed to get in the passion and the drama AND give us steps as well - and make it all look fresh and different. As a whole, I think this piece (cue Linda Barker voice) "works really, really well". My only niggle was that Madame Larina and the Nurse may as well not have been there. Those parts could have been written up a little - a waste of a couple of fine dancers.

The music I found uninspiring (there was some fine woodwind playing in parts, but on the whole it was rather dull music rather drearily played) - I did wonder what Lanchbery or Mackerras (who worked wonders on the ROH orchestra 3 weeks ago in the Bartered Bride) would have made of the commission.

On to the main protagonists and their dancing. In the first act I found Persson and Bond rather "so what"; nothing really stood out about either of them (but we can blame Pushkin for some of that I suppose). Cojocaru conveyed far more personality, and so did Kobborg. Both of them conveyed their characters perfectly within seconds of moving on stage. Kobborg was a real revelation from the word go in this piece - I've admired his technique, of course, but now found just what a great actor he is as well, with his face and demeanour as well as his arms and legs. His speed and grace are quite dazzling - I was reminded rather of Nureyev as Armand sometimes. The last time I wrote on these pages about him I compared him to the young Dowell. He really is a fantastic dancer and I would now put him top of my list of must see casts in anything the RB do. Cojocaru puts her whole self into her dancing - there's nothing more I can say really! She may be tiny but she dances big when the work calls for it (I found her style here a great contrast to her performance as Clara and in the awakening pdd from Beauty - far more abandoned) and wow, in the mirror pdd she was sensational. (by the way, that was another dancer being her reflection, wasn't it?)

Act II gave us some very fine acting from 3 of the 4 leads. Gemma Bond did very well in the party scene - she really acted that whole setup beautifully - but in the big emotional bit around the challenge and the duel she didn't feel really came across. Nothing wrong with her dancing, she just didn't grab me particularly. But then again Olga isn't an easy part to make something of, and she isn't a very experienced dancer. Persson's solo just before the duel was very VERY good - a real showstopper. But it was decidedly Kobborg's moment!

Act III - well, I talked earlier about the visual impact here. Cojocaru was a revelation in this act. I didn't really think she would be able to pull it off but boy, she did! She looked older and wiser and danced older and more passionate. The tension built brilliantly throughout the act - Kobborg's desperate hope was almost painful to watch (as was Cojocaru's gutwrenching dismissal) and I was horripilating by the end of the ballet (see if I get as many complaints as Susie Crow did for using long words...).

I hadn't been totally thrilled to see the casting for this piece, but I would be very happy to see the same cast again. The performance had complete conviction; the two leads danced to the very highest standards and acted their hearts out; the staging was perfect; and the acid test for me was that while I'm still wondering what Viv 'n' Irek would have done with the work, I didn't spend the performance wishing that they were onstage instead!