Eugene Onegin at Opera Manhattan

It's almost 11 pm and I've just come home and am about to sit down and devour some leftover pasta. I attended one of two performances of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin tonight by the Opera Manhattan Repertory Theater, one of the little gems in the opera world of this amazing city.

As any of you who read my blog know, I have formed a lovely friendship with a wonderful woman and fellow opera lover in New York, Meche Kroop. She attended the performance tonight as well and at the end we decided to put our thoughts side by side on this blog for our readers: she from the audience perspective, I from the viewpoint of a singer. We are grateful for your thoughtful comments about our respective ideas.

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I have to say straight off the bat that, after a short night of fitful sleep, I was a bit worried that I might feel the tendency to nod off towards the end of the opera, as I shamelessly admit to having done on several occasions (take note, Wotan!) Not even a yawn was in sight tonight! Overall the singing was absolutely superb and even though the performance was not staged with no costumes, set, or props, you felt like you lost not a minute of the story and followed the emotional roller coaster of each character at every step. The roles were well cast, and it was obvious to me that every singer was just thrilled to bits to be up there singing. I suppose it may have helped that almost all of them were only singing this one performance... so they really gave it their all.

Special credit, I feel, must be given to tenor Adam Juran who sang the role of Lensky. I have peripherally known Adam for about seven months now, ever since I walked in on the end of his lesson with our teacher, Ron LaFond. What I heard tonight was nothing like what I heard seven months ago. Surely, he still has a few kinks to work out in the uppermost reaches of his register but there were moments of absolute glory, warmth, and stability in his voice. His aria, "Kuda, kuda" left me on the edge of my seat. I would encourage him not to shy away from making eye contact and holding his focus while he sings as this will help him vocally, I think, as well. I commend him on some phenomenal work and wish him the best as he forges ahead in this very difficult repertoire.

In the title role, Vaughn Lindquist was stoic and sang with a strong, round, and capable voice. He made up for any fogginess in the highest notes in the role with his utterly convincing portrayal of the tormented Onegin. His final duet with Tatyana, ably and beautifully presented by Maryann Mootos, was absolutely riveting, and his final note appropriately sent the audience shooting to its feet. Maryann carried the show, as Tatyana really must do in this opera. Her acting skills were spot on and you were absolutely convinced that she had translated, read, reread and internalized every word and emotion of the Russian text. Her voice blended easily with Lindquist's as well as with Elspeth Davis's rich-voiced Olga. Her high notes spun perfectly and the famous Letter Scene was absolutely stunning.

As Tatyana's younger sister, Davis warmed up after the initial quartet where she was slightly outsung by Mootos, but was fiery and strong in the ballroom scene opposite Lensky. Bass Bryce Smith - also coincidentally the founder of Opera Manhattan - was as noble as noble could be in the role of Prince Gremin, Tatyana's husband, and the low note at the end of his Act III aria surely resonated all the way down to the toes of every member of the audience, this writer included.

Andrea Nwoke was a proud though appropriately motherly Larina. Although her voice wobbled at times especially in the upper range, it blended well with the voices of the other three ladies and she completely inhabited the role, winning us over with her stage presence and her absolutely conviction as to who this character was. Angeliki Theoharis as Filipyevna, Jonathan Harris as Zaretsky and the very hilarious John Wasiniak rounded out the cast extremely well. In the words of Meche after his aria, "there are no small roles in opera."

My advice? RUN, don't walk, to see this production!!!