Written the 22nd April 2011
Yesterday evening (at 19.30 pm) the new premiere of Pjotr Tjajkovskij's opera Eugene Onegin, was shown in Gothenburg .
Excited, dressed up in the finest dresses and expensive jewelry, we arrived to the biggest disappointment .!
The music was very beautiful, it's amazing what powerful voices that can come out of those people . But the colors were so sad and boring, black, white, gray, about 2-3 men i green and a single woman in yellow . Yes, that was the oh så 'brilliant' colors of this opera .
The play was also very long-drawn, especially after they had removed the ballet .! ( Disappointed .? Yes please .! )It starts great, perhaps because we, at that time still has an interest . But when Tatjana (played by Carolina Sandgren) begins to sing about her big love for Onegin it all just goes down the hill .!
It felt like she sang for several hours . All alone on the stage . This one beautiful woman in a gray dull, white furnished house, with a background of birch trees . I am almost sure, that when the curtain went down for the break, all applause with the joy of getting out .
Frankly, I think that the play is quite confusing . In 1,5 hours we sit and almost fall asleep while Tatjana sings - Yes of course it was beautiful, but couldn’t we get some beds instead of the hard, red leather chairs ..? (there were plenty of space, but but,.. Here the day after, i'm still sore in the buttocks after the tour)When we came back from the break it was all just like chaos, chaos, chaos .! Bang bum .! Ball, duel, death, a new ball, I love you - Piss off . The end .!
Excuase me . What just happened here .? For those of you who are not familiar with this play, I will tell you the probably shortest tell of this opera . (I don't wanna totally spoil it for you who haven’t seen it yet)
Eugen onegin seduce Tatjana until she becomes completely in love with him (and sings about it for ages) When she confess her love, he simply says, no, I am not into you (not the exact words) Tatjana's best friend (Olga played by Ann-kristin Jones) and Onegin's friend (Vladimir Lenskij played by Nikola Matišic) falls in love . But at a bal, Onegin begins to seduce Olga as well . Lenskij get jealous and challenge Onegin to a duel . Lenskij dies . Onegin leave the country to travel around . Tatjana gets married to someone rich and classy guy . Then Onegin comes back, and when he sees Tatjana he discovers that he is in love with her . But now Tatjana don't wanna have anything to do with him .
The opera ends with a very fine duet,.. Except that it was suppose to be a beautiful aria, and she expressed herself so brutal as if it was from a play of war .
However, they get a small point . The two times the tendon was prepared for the bal, was very beautiful, the pretty dresses and the exiting dances . And even one time I am almost sure I saw some few remnants of ballet . It was just so sad, that even at the bal they were all in black and white .
I would definitely recommend you to see it .! Remember a pillow to sit on, a carpet for when you get tired and cold . And bring your own food, because one little piece of chocolate costs 17 kr .! (the last was no exaggeration)
But we can always rejoice that they had it much, much, much worse in the royal theater, Copenhagen :)
