- Venue Royal Opera House, London
- Performance dates Booking to 12 June 2025
- Running time 2 hours 30 minutes (including two 25 minute intervals)
- Age guidelines 5+
Book tickets to Onegin at The Royal Ballet in London
Experience Pushkin’s classic love story on the iconic stage of The Royal Opera House in London. John Cranko’s choreography, set to Tchaikovsky’s soaring music, transforms this tale into a sumptuous ballet.
Onegin is booking from 29 May until 12 June 2025 at the Royal Opera House in London.
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.
A Tale of Love and Longing
Tatiana, a shy and introspective young woman, falls deeply in love with the worldly and indifferent Eugene Onegin. She boldly confesses her feelings in a heartfelt letter, but Onegin coldly rejects her, dismissing her as an innocent country girl. Years later, their paths cross once more at a lavish ball, where emotions resurface and unspoken desires linger.
Stars and Creatives
Who are the creative team of Onegin?
Choreography by John Cranko
Music by Kurt-Heinz Stolze, after Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Design by Jürgen Rose and Lighting Design by Steen Bjarke
Important Notes
Approximate running times: 2 hours 30 minutes (including two intervals)
Act I: 40 minutes / Interval: 25 minutes / Act II: 30 minutes / Interval: 25 minutes / Act III: 35 minutes
Content: There are gunshots in Act II.
Venue Information
Royal Opera House , Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
Nearest Tube or Train: Covent Garden (Piccadilly line), Leicester Square (Piccadilly line, Northern line)
Nearest Buses: 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 26, 68, 76, 77a, 91, 168, 171, 176, 188, 501(southbound only), 505, 521, X68 all go to the Aldwych.
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AppleFrequently Asked Questions
Yes, there are two 25-minute intervals after Act 1 and Act 2. The total performance time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including the intervals.
Act 1: 40 minutes, followed by an interval
Act 2: 30 minutes, followed by an interval
Act 3: 35 minutes
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