This summer, American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is bringing five stunning ballets to the Metropolitan Opera House stage. Four are based on great works of literature, three are repertory favorites, two are contemporary masterpieces and one is a New York Premiere. Founded in 1940 and designated America’s National Ballet Company in 2006, ABT is dedicated to preserving and presenting full-length ballets from the 19th and 20th Centuries while also performing exciting new works. They are, quite simply, the masters of the story ballet, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that means putting fairy tales on the stage. The stories of this Summer Season, which kicks off today (June 18) and runs through July 20), are based on a 19th-century Russian verse novel, three British modernist novels, a Shakespearean play and a contemporary Mexican novel. There are no fae or witches, but do not fear—there’s still plenty of lust and love, betrayal and heartbreak and magic.

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While some of the ballets are literal visualizations of the tales that inspired them, others present a more abstract exploration of the source texts’ themes and ideas. Either way, as ABT’s Associate Artistic Director Clinton Luckett told Observer, “there will be great storytelling through great dancing.”

The season opens with Onegin (June 18-22), one of the greatest story ballets of the 20th Century. This ballet adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel Eugene Onegin falls into the “literal visualization” category, remaining faithful to the source’s plot and characterization. Choreographed by John Cranko and set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze), the three-act ballet received its World Premiere by Stuttgart Ballet in 1965. ABT........

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