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Onegin

29 May12 June 2025

Onegin

29 May12 June 2025

Onegin

29 May12 June 2025
Main Stage
Ballet and dance

A bittersweet ballet of first love and regret.

Onegin ©2024 Sebastian Nevols

Pushkin’s classic love story becomes a sumptuous ballet with John Cranko’s choreography set to Tchaikovsky’s soaring music.

Running time
The performance lasts approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including two intervals
Approximate running times:
Guidance
Parental guidance recommended
Language
Some performances also include Captions that give more details about the sound.
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Exceptional philanthropic support from

Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust

Season Principal
A corporate logo
Generous philanthropic support from

The Jean Sainsbury Royal Opera House Fund, the Thompson Family Charitable Trust, Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson, Royal Ballet and Opera Friends and an anonymous donor

The 2024/2025 Royal Ballet season is generously supported by

Aud Jebsen

A TALE OF REGRET

When the bookish Tatiana meets Eugene Onegin, she is immediately besotted. Enigmatic and refined, he seems like a hero from one of her novels. Onegin rejects her, seeing only a naive country girl.   

Will a meeting at a ball many years later offer another chance at love?   

Background

60 years after its creation, Onegin’s exploration of unrequited affection, impulsive choices and bitter regret still breaks hearts today. 

First opera, then ballet

John Cranko became acquainted with Alexander Pushkin’s verse-novel Eugene Onegin when he choreographed the dances for Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky’s opera of the same name in 1952. He created his own distinctive version of Pushkin’s work in 1965 for the Stuttgart Ballet. Onegin displays all of Cranko’s genius as a narrative choreographer, featuring finely drawn characters who are transformed by the conflicts they face. 

A wide-ranging role 

Onegin and Tatiana’s relationship is depicted through intense duets, such as the letter-writing scene, when the youthful Tatiana dances a dream pas de deux with her longed-for lover. The role of Tatiana offers a ballerina many challenges – the development of a bookish country girl into a sophisticated woman at the pinnacle of St Petersburg society requires dramatic sensibility and technical finesse. Cranko’s choreography incorporates an eclectic range of dance forms, including folk, modern, ballroom and acrobatic.  

An unexpected Tchaikovsky ballet?  

While Tchaikovsky is most famous for his music in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, his lesser-known works for piano form the basis of Kurt-Heinz Stolze’s soaring arrangements for Onegin. This includes selections from The Seasons, his opera Cherevichki and the symphonic fantasy Francesca da Rimini.  

Cast and Creatives

Cast
The cast of this production may vary depending on performance date. Go to cast and dates to see these.
See cast and dates
Creatives

Access

There is lift access and step-free routes to over 100 seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony and Amphitheatre. There are 10 steps or fewer to some seats in the Stalls Circle, Balcony, Amphitheatre and the Donald Gordon Grand Tier. All seats in the Orchestra stalls are accessed by 9 steps or more. A handheld bell is rung by Front of House staff to signal guests to take their seats before a performance. The bell is loud and can be startling. The bell is rung approximately ten minutes before the show starts and at each interval.  

We have an assistive listening system available to use. 

An audio described guide for Onegin is available on our SoundCloud.

Join our Access Scheme for priority access performance tickets and to personalise your account for your access requirements.

See our Accessibility page for more information on access at the Royal Opera House.

A busy crowd is seated prior to a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House in the auditorium.

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