“Eugene Onegin” never pops up as often at Lyric Opera as those who adore Tchaikovsky’s achingly romantic opera would like. So it was good to see the company rallying its resources on behalf of the worthy revival that received its first performance of the season Sunday afternoon at the Civic Opera House.
The return of director Robert Carsen’s spare, atmospheric production is marked by several firsts in this, the eighth and final main stage production of the Lyric season.
Soprano Ana Maria Martinez, a singing actress well remembered here for her Rusalka and Donna Elvira, was making her role debut as Tatiana, the naive country girl who falls in love with the aloof and worldly Onegin, her family’s next-door neighbor. Russian mezzo-soprano Alisa Kolosova was heard in her American operatic debut as Tatiana’s flirty younger sister, Olga. Also new to the roster was the rising young Argentinian conductor Alejo Perez, making his American debut.
All three artists made positive impressions, joining Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role, reprising a signature role he first undertook in Chicago nine years ago.
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Sunday’s performance brought out the undertow of poignant melancholy and frustrated longing in this most popular opera of the Russian repertory.
The Carsen production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera in 1997 and last presented here in 2007-08, hardly betrays its age. An opera generally thought to be about the heroine Tatiana’s fraught emotional odyssey is presented instead from Onegin’s point of view, unfolding as a memory play in the mind of the antihero. An unorthodox concept, to be sure, but a fine-tuned ensemble under revival director Paula Suozzi brings it off beautifully.
Carsen’s staging represents an extended flashback to the events that brought Onegin to a sorry pass. The protagonist we meet in pantomime in the opera’s prelude and at the very end, finds himself bereft of hope, left to grapple with the bitter consequences of his behavior. Having once scorned the young Tatiana’s innocent offering of love, he now finds his own offering thrown back in his face.
Designer Michael Levine’s minimalist set, with its Chekhovian carpet of autumn leaves in the first act, is a useful metaphor for Onegin’s empty soul. This vast open box isolates characters in pools of solitary reflection as outlined by lighting designer Christine Binder. Levine dresses the singers and choristers in early 19th century Russian-provincial attire. What his set does not do is provide the singers with design elements that would assist them in projecting their voices in the cavernous Ardis Krainik Theatre.
Martinez sounded as if she could have used the help at times in Sunday’s performance, although her first Tatiana had to be reckoned a successful addition to her repertory of leading ladies at this stage of her career.
The Puerto Rican soprano excels at playing vulnerable young heroines such as Tatiana. The girlish innocence she conveyed through her singing and body language in the first act was right on the money, climaxing in the soaring lyricism of the famous letter aria, in which Tatiana impulsively poured out her passion for the handsome neighbor she had met only the night before. Martinez also gave her all to the emotional conflict raging within the mature Tatiana when she confronted the now-repentant Onegin for the last time.
The downside? Hers is not a large voice — or at least it did not sound large on this occasion — and there were passages late in the performance where the tone thinned on top. Even so, her sensitive musicality gave us a touching Tatiana that can only deepen in impact from here on in.
None of the current exponents of the title role internationally convey Onegin’s elegant diffidence better than Kwiecien. His focused, velvety baritone sounded in strong fettle throughout the performance. He cut a handsome figure, and the skilled actor in him revealed telling chinks in Onegin’s psychological armor. The cool condescension with which the antihero lectured the young Tatiana was handled with great subtlety.
“Onegin” can easily fall flat if the proper Slavic flavor is missing. It most certainly was present in the idiomatic vocalism of Kolosova as Olga and Dmitry Belosselskiy as Prince Gremin, whom Tatiana marries on the rebound. The Russian mezzo gave rich, vibrant voice to the younger sister’s heedless toying with the affections of Lensky, just as the Russian bass rolled out Gremin’s aria with imposing, deep-toned gravity.
The admirable American tenor Charles Castronovo excelled in his impersonation of the hotheaded Lensky, delivering an impassioned, affecting account of the poet’s farewell lament. It brought down the house.
Mezzo-soprano Jill Grove, long a stalwart of the Lyric roster, supplied a vocally plush, dramatically endearing portrait of Filipyevna, Tatiana’s protective nanny. There were winning performances as well from mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner as the sisters’ mother, Madame Larina; and tenor Keith Jameson as the French tutor Triquet. Smaller roles were capably taken by Ryan Opera Center members Takaoki Onishi (Captain) and Patrick Guetti (Zaretsky).
Perez brought to Chicago a sizable resume of operatic and concert performances in his native Argentina and the major theaters of Europe. Although the well-prepared Lyric chorus sounded pressed by a couple of fast tempos, he supported the singers flexibly, and his surefooted handling of the orchestra made much of the surging emotionalism of Tchaikovsky’s music. Perez impressed as a podium talent to watch.
The orchestra responded alertly to his urgings, as did director Michael Black’s choristers, sounding none the worse for wear at the end of a long and demanding season.
Speaking of the Lyric season, it will conclude with the Chicago premiere of Carsen’s production of the musical “My Fair Lady,” opening April 28.
Lyric Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” continues through March 20 at the Civic Opera House. 20 N. Wacker Drive; $17-$349; 312-827-5600, www.lyricopera.org.
John von Rhein is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @jvonrhein
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