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30 - Wednesday, March 13, 1985 - North Shore News

EUGENE ONEGIN

Opera of everyday life

A CLASSIC tale of unrequited love awaits au-
diences. of the Vancouver Opera’s current pro-
duction of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

| By JOANNE MacDONALD

Sung in English, Satur-
day's opening night perfor-
mance at the Queen
Elizabeth Theatre offered
detailed and effective sets
along with authentic period
costumes from the Russia of
the 1820's. It also offered a
wealth of ‘talented voices in
the legendary tale about a

- self-centred dandy who
‘discovers, (no late, his folly

to live a solitary infe instead
of a life filled with love and

companionship.
Tchaikovsky himself
wrote that his Eugene

“TCHAIVOSKY'S OPERA | Eugene “Onegin is being per-
. formed by the Vancouver Opera.

Onegin, adapted from the
verse novel by Alexander
Pushkin, was a departure
from his usual ‘grand
operas,”’ in that it did not
deal with royalty or fabled
characters but instead
focussed on ordinary people
and the feelings that ensue
when one person — in this
case, the incurably romantic
Tatyana — loves another —
Onegin — with an intensity
that is not returned.

In doing so. the composer
sought to tep the emotions
and conflicts felt by normal
human beings caught up in
the drama of everyday life.

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In the title role, Mark
Pedrotti competently dem-
onstrates the transformation
of Onegin's character from
arrogant dandy into a man
who — responsible for both
rejecting a lover and the
death of his closest friend —
comes to realize that aimless
drifting cannot compensate
for a life devoid of friend-
ship and love.

Although initially too dis-
tant, the audience catches
brief glimpses of Onegin’s
sensitivity when he is reluc-
tantly forced to duel with his
friend Lensky (Richard
Margison), following
Onegin’s repeated flirtations
with Lensky’s fiance. Olga.

However, it is in the final
scene, in which Onegin
makes a desperate plea for a

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thin slices of Salmon marinated

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second chance with Tatyana,
that Pedrotti shines, his
character at last springing to
fife with the passion that
Onegin formerly lacked.

As the discarded Tatyana,
sopratio Joan Rodgers sings
with a haunting clarity, in-
fusing the audience with her
pain at being rejected by
Onegin.

She is the perfect, fragile
foil for Padrotti’s version of
the insensitive Onegin.

In the supporting § cast,
Jean Stilwell as Tatyana’s
passionate sister, Olga, and
Don Garrod as Gremin, Ta-
tyana's husband are par-
ticular standouts, while
Phyllis Mailing as Larina the
mother hetps to.set the tone
of the low-key opera from
the outset.

Margison’s Lensky is a
pure delight, with his clear
tenor alternating between
both high emotion and
outrage as his character
moves from the blush of
first love in the initial scenes
of the opera on to a per-
vading sense of resignation
when he realizes that in
order to preserve his per-
sonal honor he must duel to
the death with Onegin.

Eugene Onegin continues
Thursday and Saturday.

fon Wathburn, Conductor
Vancouver Chamber Choir
Vancouver Chorale

CBC Vancouver Orchestra

With special thanks to The

Mclean Foundation and CP Ar
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Eaton's and Woodward's '8 Stores

Chuletas de Cordero Reilenas
two Lamp Chops stuffed with
minced Lamb mixed with basic &

Rosemary, served with Deville Sauce

Spanish Restaurant
3108 Edgemont Blvd. N. Van

988-3376

THE NORTH Vancouver
Community Players are
ready to hit the stage with an
evening of one-act plays.

The plays to be performed
we The Dumb Waiter by
Harold Pinter, Walter by
Murray Schisgal, and
Lemonade by James
Prideaux,

The Dumb Waiter is about
two hired killers awaiting
their next assignment in the
basement of an abandoned
building. The inner strains
and fears of the two men,
alternating hilarity and ter-
ror create an unbearable
tension.

Lemonade, sees two mid-
dle-aged matrons .- seeking

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Three plays
at Deep Cove

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PREPARED YOUR WAY:

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PREPARED AS ABOVE INCLUDING
* 602, New York Steak or

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respite from their hum-drum
existence, set up stalls selling
spiked lemonade to highway
travellers.

Walter, deals with Laura
as she comes to the funeral
parlour to view the body of
her late husband. She has
just learned what a chronic
philanderer he’ was— and is
seeking vengeance, the
funeral director’s son ap-
pears quite willing to assist
her.

The plays will be shown
Thursdays to Saturdays,
March 21-30 at Hendry Hali,
815 East 11th St., in North
Vancouver,

Curtain time is 8 p.m.

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