The Joffrey Ballet ensemble in “Eugene Onegin”/Photo: Cheryl Mann

There’s a particular ambition to adapting “Eugene Onegin” into a story ballet. Chicago audiences have seen Yuri Possokhov’s abundant choreographic gifts on several occasions, perhaps most notably with the Joffrey Ballet’s triumphant production of his “Anna Karenina,” a masterwork the company restaged a few seasons ago. But the drama, seduction and anguish in Pushkin’s novel in verse is less outwardly eventful than Tolstoy’s book: no sexual affair, no (spoiler alert) suicide by train. Just a romantic rejection by a coldly arrogant young man who becomes a slightly less young, regretful man. There is a death by duel that happens so fast it’s nearly as shocking as the speed with which the slain’s betrothed finds a new love interest. Otherwise, the action in Possokhov’s ballet unfolds in the internal worlds of the titular character—danced the night I attended by Dylan Gutierrez—and Tatiana, danced by Jeraldine Mendoza, the spurned young woman who suffers the sting of rejection and ultimately moves on.

“Onegin” plumbs the depths of commonplace interactions, and Possokhov’s ballet brings these nuanced emotions to the stage in a fully realized marriage of dance, music—the phenomenal score is by Ilya Demutsky who also composed “Karenina”—and engrossing visual design that remains in service to the performers on stage. The Joffrey production, running through June 14 at the Lyric Opera House, is a co-production with the San Francisco Ballet, who staged the world premiere in January. The Joffrey company, accompanied by the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Scott Speck, make it their own.

Possokhov’s choreography has always sat well with the Joffrey dancers and “Onegin” allows them to shine. Gutierrez, standing a commanding head taller than the rest of the cast, dances Onegin with icy confidence and stoic precision. Mendoza portrays Tatiana with ease and makes a convincing transformation from shy ingénue in Act I to confident married woman in Act IV. Tenley Connors and Jonathan Dole are excellent in the supporting roles of Tatiana’s sister Olga and Onegin’s friend Lensky. A standout scene in the production comes in Act III: a solo for Lensky as he agonizes over dueling his best friend. Solo becomes duet for the two men, concluding with the fatal duel. Dole dances the scene with flawless technique and raw, show-stealing commitment.

A parallel duet between Tatiana and the grieving Olga follows. Possokhov is gifted at subtly weaving idiosyncratic movements into classical vocabulary with sparing efficacy. Olga’s toe drums on the floor in an unmistakable expression of nervous pain and anger. In the final scene, Onegin’s regret at losing Tatiana is expressed with outstretched arms and straight legs in wide second position; he bounces from foot to foot, as if trying to embrace the world he so long ignored and take it all into his now open, broken heart.

Joffrey Ballet dancers Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez in “Eugene Onegin.” Photo: Cheryl Mann.

One of the remarkable achievements in “Onegin” is how Possokhov reveals the internal world of his characters in ensemble scenes. The creepiness of Tatiana’s nightmare in Act III is achieved not only with unsettling animal masks, but subtly menacing physicality for a bear-headed Onegin that hits just the right pitch of psychosexual dread. In the ballroom scene in Act IV, wherein Onegin seeks out the now matured and unavailable Tatiana, the guests seem at times to be dancing in Onegin’s wistful mind before snapping back into the noise of the external world.

The four acts of the story are framed by four seasons, introduced with projected verses from Pushkin and embodied by a cadre of forest spirits whose diaphanous costumes change with the weather. These interludes function both as deeply pleasurable moments of pure dance and tie to the evolution of the characters. Flirtatious spring sprites in pink and green represent Olga and Lensky’s romance and Tatiana’s infatuation with Onegin. When the female sprites are joined by men in red—literally somersaulting in before shedding their shirts—things start to heat up, the boys of summer foretelling Tatiana’s fever dream. In autumn browns, the women and men in the ensemble mimic falling leaves, foreshadowing the fallen Lensky.

When no spirits appeared at the top of Act IV, I literally scribbled in my notebook, “no nymphs???” I needn’t have worried; Possokhov saves the spirit of winter for a wind-swept finale that elevates Onegin’s bitter revelation to world-shattering transcendence.

The Joffrey Ballet’s “Eugene Onegin” at the Lyric Opera House, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive. Through June 14. Tickets at joffrey.org.