About this Performance

New York City’s first listen to a new bluegrass take on Tchaikovsky’s classic opera, based on the novel by Pushkin.
Sarah Gancher retells one of the great romances in a new form, perfect for a tragic love story: the country song. The Russian classic is transplanted to the American South, where it’s told by bluegrass musicians in a rowdy picking circle.  ​

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Sarah Gancher, Directed by Rachel Chavkin

The Cast

Tom Pecinka

Eugene Onegin/Guitar

Marianne Rendón

Tanya/Guitar

John Kirk

Narrator/Fiddle

Hillary Hawke

Company/Banjos

Bobby Hawk

Fiddle

Diane Davis

Company

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Cesar Moreno

Company/Mandolin

Bridget Kearny

Bass

Nathan Koci

Keyboard

Creative Credits

Sarah Gancher

Book, Music, and Lyrics

Obie Award-winning playwright Sarah Gancher’s work has been seen at London’s National Theatre, Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, The Public Theatre, New York Theater Workshop, The Vineyard Theatre, Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Geva Theatre, and Ars Nova, among others. A lifelong jazz violinist, she regularly performs bluegrass fiddle. Eugene Onegin is her first book/music/lyrics musical.
Recent work includes The Wind and The Rain (Vulture Best of 2024; dir. Jared Mezzocchi at Red Hook Waterfront Museum, En Garde Arts & Vineyard Theatre) and Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy (online production NY Times Top 10 Theater of 2020; 2024 in-person at Vineyard Theatre & Geva Theatre, in association with Dori Berinstein, dir. Darko Tresnjak. ) She was the book writer for two musicals with The Bengsons, Anne Kauffman, and Sonya Tayeh: Hundred Days and The Lucky Ones, and the collaborating playwright for The TEAM’s Mission Drift, composed by Heather Christian and directed by Rachel Chavkin (Top 50 Shows of the 20th Century, The Guardian.)

Rachel Chavkin

Director

RACHEL CHAVKIN is a director, sometime writer and founding artistic director of Brooklyn-based experimental collective, the TEAM whose work has been seen all over NY, the U.S., and internationally, and whose consensus-driven writing process was the subject of a feature length documentary. She won the 2019 Tony Award for her work on Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown (Broadway, NYTW, National Theatre, London). She is a three-time Obie Winner, and received Tony and Lortel nominations, and a Drama Desk Award for Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, Ars Nova, A.R.T.). Select projects: Carson Kreitzer’s and Matt Gould’s Lempicka (Broadway), the TEAM’s Mission Drift (National Theatre), Arthur Miller’s American Clock (Old Vic), the TEAM’s RoosevElvis (Royal Court), Larissa Fasthorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (2ST, 1st play by a known Native American woman on Broadway), Lilianna Padilla’s How to Defend Yourself — co-directed with Padilla and Steph Paul (NYTW), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (LCT; Obie Award, Drama Desk and Lortel noms.), Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova and national tour), and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, Heather Christian, the Bengsons, and Manchester-based writer/performer Chris Thorpe. Her first short film, Remind Me, was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity.

Todd Sickafoose

Orchestrations and Arrangements

Todd Sickafoose is a Tony & Grammy award-winning composer, producer, orchestrator, bandleader and double bassist whose music straddles the worlds of folk, indie rock, jazz and chamber music. He makes richly moving, imaginative music and has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a captivating improviser, imaginative composer, and master of collaboration”. In 2004, Sickafoose began performing and recording in a duo format with folk poet, activist and cultural icon Ani DiFranco. Since then, they’ve made 10 albums, two concert DVDs, and performed thousands of shows. In 2007, Sickafoose began working on Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera, Hadestown, wearing many hats including arranger/orchestrator and music producer. After years of development and regional productions, the show opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway in 2019 and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Orchestrations for Sickafoose and collaborator Michael Chorney. Sickafoose produced the Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording which won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Recording.

Liam Robinson

Orchestrations and Arrangements

Liam Robinson is a performer, composer, songwriter, and producer living in NYC. He is the music director/supervisor and vocal arranger of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, helping develop the show from its Off-Broadway run in 2016 to its incredible success on Broadway, The West End, and stages around the world today. Liam’s songwriting duo Robinson & Rohe, with acclaimed writer Jean Rohe, released their sophomore album “Into the Night” in 2023 on Ani Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records. As an instrumentalist and singer, he has performed in bands with Anaïs Mitchell, Becca Stevens, Mick Flannery, and André De Shields among others and was in the original Broadway cast of the Tony-sweeping “War Horse”. His work as record producer is highlighted on Jean Rohe’s “Sisterly”, awarded Best Adult Contemporary Album at the Independent Music Awards. When not making music, Liam can be found in the kitchen or the woodshop. More info at LiamRobinson.com

Pete Lanctot

Music Director

Pete Lanctot is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and teaching artis,. He has worked with John Cale, Yoshiko Chuma, Durand Jones and the Indications, Aaron Frazer, Iris Dement, Lady Lamb, Tony Conrad, Katie Von Schleicher, The Wind And The Rain (Vineyard Theater, En Garde Arts), Eugene Onegin (Orchard Project, Theater Squared, Dorset Theater Festival), Hearthbound Podcast, Hyperballad Studios, Lady Lamb, and Holly Miranda and has appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Call with Carson Daly, and Live at KEXP.

Lexi Vollero

Music Assistant
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Bio to come.

Jo Fernandez

Production Stage Management
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Bio to come.

Ginger Dolden

Consultant
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Bio to come.

Caroline Englander

Sub Production Stage Management

CAROLINE ENGLANDER (Production Stage Manager)
Broadway: King Lear with Glenda Jackson. Off Broadway/Regional: Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. (NYSF/Public Theater), Grief Camp (Atlantic Theater Company), We Are Your Robots (TFANA), Find Me Here, Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb), Helen (En Garde Arts), Half-God of Rainfall (ART, NYTW) The Jungle (St.Ann’s Warehouse, STC); Becky Nurse of Salem (LCT); Hamlet & Oresteia (Park Avenue Armory); The Vagrant Trilogy, The Outer Space, The Great Immensity, The Apple Family Plays (NYSF/Public Theater); sandblasted (Vineyard/WP Theater) runboyrun, In Old Age (NYTW) The Courtroom (Waterwell). Many productions with NYU Tisch Graduate Acting. BA: Barnard College.