Who’s the hotter property in the opera world right now: Ted Huffman the librettist and director of zeitgeisty new works? Or Ted Huffman the director of streamlined, impactful productions of the classics? That second reputation is enhanced by his Royal Opera main stage debut, a new staging of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
There’s no real set to speak of in Hyemi Shin’s design, just metres of wide-open stage – a black background, a few chairs, falling snow. The village where country-mouse Tatyana grows up is clothed (by Astrid Klein) in muted pastels; then, at the city ball, penguin-suited sophisticates tango to Tchaikovsky’s polonaise while glowing white chandeliers slowly descend like synchronised jellyfish. That, though, is as fussy as this gets – the focus stays on the compelling performances Huffman has elicited from his cast and the everything-I-know-about-love story they tell.
