The Royal Ballet in Onegin: supreme performances across the board

Reece Clarke as Onegin and Marianela Nuñez as Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin

Akane Takada as Olga and William Bracewell as Lensky in John Cranko's Onegin

Reece Clarke as Onegin and Marianela Nuñez as Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin

Lukas B. Brændsrød as Gremin and Marianela Nuñez as Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin

The Royal Ballet in John Cranko's Onegin

Reece Clarke as Onegin and Marianela Nuñez as Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin

By Graham Watts, 23 January 2025

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“I am running out of superlatives for Marianela Nuñez”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 22 January 2025

Onegin (John Cranko)

The Royal Ballet

Wolfgang Heinz, Conductor

Jürgen Rose, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Steen Bjarke, Lighting Designer

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Marianela Núñez, Dancer

Reece Clarke, Dancer

Akane Takada, Dancer

William Bracewell, Dancer

Lukas B Brændsrød, Dancer

The Australian Ballet does Romeo and Juliet: precision over passion

Katie Lawrence, 24th April

This revival of Romeo and Juliet combines vivid staging and technical leads, but the lover's careful partnership lacks the volatility that makes young love convincing and tragedy believable.

***11

Hot ice: Osipova and Brændsrød sizzle in Cranko’s Onegin

Mark Pullinger, 3rd June

Natalia Osipova, a seasoned Tatiana, is joined by Lukas B Brændsrød, making his debut as Onegin in the summer return of John Cranko's take on Pushkin's classic verse novel.

*****

Onegin is the Bridgerton of ballet

Ivy Lin, 20th June

Two very promising debuts in the lead roles and good performances in the supporting roles, made this an enjoyable Onegin.

****1

Farewells and bold debuts in National Ballet of Canada's Onegin

Gianmarco Segato, 24th November

National Ballet of Canada's connections to John Cranko's Onegin run deep and this revival featured beloved company farewells and exciting next generation debuts.

****1

Petipa Awards Gala: thrilling theatrics and star turns!

Margaret Willis, 23rd September

A shimmering smorgasbord of some of today’s most exciting international dancers, who performed pristine works by Petipa.

****1

Pushkin in Prague: a fine revival of Onegin by Czech National Ballet

Jonathan Gray, 9th February

Powerful performances by the four leading dancers brought dramatic weight to this tremendous revival of John Cranko's Onegin by Czech National Ballet.

****1

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Graham Watts

Graham Watts is a freelance dance writer and critic writing regularly for Dancing Times, Dance Europe, Danza Europa, and many more publications. He regularly writes features for Sadler’s Wells, London Coliseum and La Scala. Chairman of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom and of the UK National Dance Awards he has interviewed many of the greatest names in dance including Maya Plisetskaya, Vladimir Vasiliev, Boris Eifman, Alexei Ratmansky, Andris Liepa, Sir Peter Wright, David Bintley and Dame Gillian Lynne. When not involved in dance Graham is a keen fencer, and has captained the British Sabre team.