The opening night of the current revival of Kasper Holten’s Eugene Onegin had a distinct buzz of anticipation.  Fans of Dimitri Hvorostovsky (Onegin) were out in force to support their hero singing in the middle of treatment for a brain tumour; opera goers who hated Holten’s original production were still out for blood despite much-heralded changes; there was the house debut of the outstanding American tenor Michael Fabiano (Lensky) who had won accolades for recent work at Glyndebourne; then there was Australian soprano Nicole Car, new to the role of Tatyana in London. In the circumstances she could have been overshadowed by these other events, but instead she emerged triumphant, claiming her place as a real international star.

Eugene Onegin is very important to the director Kasper Holten. The fact that he revised his own production following mixed reviews first time round is testimony to how much he cares that people understand it. His view of the opera certainly contains insights which stimulate new ideas and present the main characters in a different way, but this can irritate as well as inform.  Using dancers to become the alter egos of the main protagonists shows a lack...