Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Rozhdestvensky, Boylan, Glushchak, European Union Opera

Rating:
Summary: Buy it, but close your eyes when you watch it.
Review: I agree with everything the next viewer(dated May 31, 02)said about this DVD. I like Tchaikovsky's operas. I expected to see something Russian, but I was very disappointed. The stage design and the costume looked awlful. Only the Onegin character makes the DVD worth buying. Fat Tosca is okay, but not a Fat Tatiyana. The VHS version with Yuri Marusin and Sergei Leyferkus is definitely the 1st choice. It should be issued on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad but all the other versions are better
Review: I bought this DVD because it was so highly rated. It doens't deserve 4 stars! Not even three! The first act is pretty awful. It's so abstract and overdone. It gives you no feeling of a Russian countryside. It looks "POP". Olga is childish instead of youthful, Tatiana is fat (could be a beautiful lady if she loses some weight), Nya-nya is a big healthy maid. But Onegin is a real handsome guy. Maybe that's the only highlight of the whole opera.
Among all the other productions, my first choice is the live performance from Kirov with Yuri Marusin and Sergei Leyferkus. Tatiana (I don't recall the singer's name)is a rare beauty. She looks totally in role. I can't imagine anyone better than her. Only available on VHS, though. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Overvalued !
Review: OK, but overvalued according to the other rewievs.

Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: That was an excellent production, German singers did good job on Russian

Rating:
Summary: A truly inspiring production
Review: This is one of the best opera videos I have seen. The filming is crisp, clean, and attentive, the sound good, and the subtitles timely and legible. I was also especially pleased with the audience, which knew when to applaud and how to hold its enthusiasm back while the orchestra was still playing.

The staging was beautiful: minimalistic but hardly intimidating for traditionalists. The singing was very strong throughout. It's a incredible, poignant opera to begin with, and this is one of the best productions of it that I've seen. Read the Pushkin poem/novel if you want background on the plot.