'Onegin' a pleasant surprise

I have a confession to make: I did not plan on writing a positive review of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin." I was fully prepared to lambaste the School of Music for even entertaining the idea of performing a Russian opera in English. I had drafted in my mind a cutting, though tactful, manifesto decrying those who would dare remove the beauty of Pushkin's poetry from its native language. I was certain the decision to sing "Onegin" in translation would utterly ruin the production. On Friday evening, my prediction was, fortunately and to my pleasant surprise, completely wrong.\nTranslation is a delicate matter in opera. Adapting an opera to a language other than the original libretto requires alterations of the vocal line. The end results of the translation are sometimes awkward melodies. However, in this instance, British conductor David Lloyd-Jones's translation maintained the integrity of Pushkin's poetry and gave the vocal line a much more song-like quality than operatic English tends to have. This no doubt gave the cast a greater degree of security because they gave comfortable and confident, though sometimes under-acted, interpretations of their roles.\nThe opera's ill-fated couple, Onegin and Tatyana, sung by Scott Skiba and Michelle Auslander, respectively, gave a heart-wrenching display of unrequited love and duty-bound misery. Skiba's voice was as sonorous and dramatic as Auslander's was shimmering and melodious. Their on-stage chemistry was at times as passionate as the two lovers they portrayed. In other moments, the two were as restrained as their characters' societal boundaries would have required. \nCarrie Reading gave a warm interpretation of Tatyana's mother, Madame Larina, and Crystal Jarrell made for a plucky Olga, Tatyana's sister of greater energy but significantly less personality. Jordan Bisch turned in a magnificent performance as the Prince Gremin, bringing a moment of pure loveliness to the third act. As Onegin's close friend Vladimir Lensky, Christopher Sponseller was in serviceable form, but his voice suggested a greater resonance than was present in the performance. Many of Sponseller's greatest dramatic moments were also left underserved. \nThis, however, was more indicative of guest director Yafim Maizel's apparent tendency to leave many of the score's most intense passages insufficiently staged. The large and lively chorus on hand could have certainly been used as a greater resource, but aiding the situation was the small delightful corps de ballet, choreographed by Guoping Wang. Though all in all a slow starter, this production of "Onegin" is nonetheless a satisfying display of the marvelous talent present here at IU and makes a fine addition to the season.