Vancouver adaptation of Onegin is a critical hit!

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Meg Roe in Onegin. David Cooper photo.

It’s a hit!

The Arts Club Theatre’s contemporary-ish take on the Russian classic Eugene Onegin opened this week, and it’s getting glowing reviews.

A verse-novel in the original Russian, Eguene Onegin has been adapted as an opera (by Tchaikovsky), numerous other stage plays and movies (including a 1999 effort). But none has been quite like the take by Vancouver director Amiel Gladstone and singer/songwriter Veda Hille.

The two worked together previously on another critical and commercial smash, Do You Want What I Have Got: A Craigslist Cantata. For Onegin, the two have teamed up to add contemporary elements to the story as well as an original score.

In his review, Georgia Straight theatre critic Colin Thomas writes: “You’re lucky to be alive right now. Do you know why? Because you get to see Onegin. The show isn’t perfect, but Jesus does it have a vision! It’s thrilling.” He goes on to say that everyone in the seven-member cast “is fantastic” and that “Hille and Gladstone’s score is a major accomplishment.”

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Meg Roe and Alessandro Juliani in Onegin. Emily Cooper photo.

In the Vancouver Sun, Erika Thorkelson writes, “Alessandro Juliani might be playing the titular character, but it’s Meg Roe as the bookish Tatyana who steals your heart. Her solo ode to the first sultry stirrings of young love is a high point of the first half.”

She also writes: “Everything about the look of the play is breathtaking. With the Goldcorp transformed into a thrust stage that draws the audience into the action, Drew Facey’s set of scattered pulp novels (take a moment on the way to your seat and delight in some of the titles) and draped red curtains creates a compelling backdrop for John Webber’s dramatic lighting design.”

The Arts Club Theatre production runsat the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre (162 W. 1st) until April 10. Visit artsclub.com for tickets.

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