Tatyana’s letter-writing scene grows dull, especially when Muraveva’s melodies trickle out passively, and the ashen Larin house makes the dance sequences disenchanting. But when the story moves indoors, the absence of Russian imperial opulence withers bedrooms and ballrooms. They embellish movement and salt the bare set with vitality. Fallen leaves wallpaper the floor, rippling when characters reel, romp and run through them. The opera opens in an autumnal flush of pumpkin, burgundy and golden brown. It’s a tech-savvy, figurative interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s vision that the opera privileges sincerity and emotional expression.Īs a set device, the walls are, at first, novel. The simple production takes a visually simple approach, playing spectacle on the una corda. Three blank walls circumscribe the stage, changing color like a mood ring to reflect seasons and atmospheres.

Production designer Michael Levine frames the action like a shoe-box diorama. Onegin is again reunited with Tatyana, now married, which forces him to confront the consequences of his actions. Muraveva’s Tatyana, in her white nightgown, weaves in girlish earnestness and innocence, but the actress shines more brightly once the character has matured. The more introverted and bookish sister, Tatyana, falls in love with the dapper Onegin, but he rebuffs her. As a pair, Olga and Lensky brim with vivacity and tend to steal the show. Onegin meets Lensky’s betrothed, the animated Olga Larin (Aigul Akhmetshina), and her sister Tatyana (Evgenia Muraveva). Bintner and Johnson excite as emotional foils, but Bintner occasionally mistakes aloofness for stiffness.

Petersburg after his uncle’s death to live in the country alongside his best friend, a maudlin poet named Lensky (Evan LeRoy Johnson). The story follows Eugene Onegin (Gordon Bintner), a disaffected dandy who leaves St.

Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse altered the fabric of artistic thought and inspired Tchaikovsky to create an opera that, nearly 150 years later, finds its way onto the War Memorial Opera House stage in San Francisco. It feels almost obvious that “Eugene Onegin,” a masterpiece of Russian literature, invites opportunities for excellence.

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