operaspark (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

wow...they really broke the budget with the staging!! hahah. I can't believe the MET of all places would go for such hideous staging of an opera which a creative designer could really make something of. Hvorostovsky is a decent Onegin, i find his acting wooden at times though. He does seem to be improving. Vocally he is always secure.As for Renee, very good for her first Russian opera live but she doesn't really do it for me. Well sung, but not excellent.

SVENSKSOPRAN (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Ahh! His last phrase. Beautiful acting and tight listening! Love the simplicity of just one chair too!

znamrennug (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Tchaikovsky was a master. Art does not get much better than this. DH and RF work so closely together it is like two gears in a Swiss watch. One has to wonder how far their personal intimacy goes.... How else could they work so magnificently together? I must add: I applaud RF in reaching out to Russia, artistically. Russia and the West need to be friends, not enemies. The politicians of the two spheres must learn from the obvious friendship of these two artists.

JeeRant (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky really is a wonderful actor!

MisanthropeIV (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

You can buy the DVD of Eugene Onegin from PBS's store, from Great Performances, and it has the english subtitles on it I believe.

basf1123 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Can someone post the entire opera with the english subtitles? My siblings are having issues w/ just the french subtitles and I really want them to experience the beautiful literature. Plus, I've been playing the role of interpreter (I saw a the version of this w/ the english on TV and remember most of it). And the whole opera isn't here, if someone were to post it I would be immensely grateful.

kikuyiru (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

such a wonderful opera, based on such a wonderful novel!it´s a really interesting thing about puschkin´s "onegin", his (puschkin´s) life and friends, the lost last chapters ... and it´s an interesting thing what that novel did to tschaikowski: feeling with tatjana, he, the gay man, married a woman, which wrote him love letters...

babajaga39 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Lensky was crap in this performance (I mean Vargas).

candidnt (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Man, Eugene Onegin is such a girls' opera. He rejected me, but then he fell for me! Too bad I'm a princess now and I don't have time for your arrogant ass!I'm oversimplifying, of course; it's a tragedy. But still. This is a lovely performance, even though I don't really care for Renee Fleming. Hvorostovsky is a sex god. Mmm.

babajaga39 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

you are true, but every other great singer has bad moments. it was one of them, but it doesn't spoil his overall performance at all.