My daughter and I went to WNO’s Carmen at the Bristol Hippodrome – her first visit to an opera performance. The theatre was full (which caused some rather noisy air-conditioning to be turned on in the second act) and she was one of a number of young people there.
The production was traditional and adequate but what is it at the moment with monochrome stagings of opera? This is the third one in a row that I’ve been to. And I felt that they hadn’t quite worked out how to deal with the chorus. Much of the time they behaved quite naturalistically but at the beginning of Act III they ‘trod water’ on the spot to indicate that they were on the move and it looked most odd. At other times there was more movement than necessary. The narration of Carmen’s fight in Act I was accompanied by two chorus members acting out fighting, when there was no real reason for them to do so. The surtitles and previous knowledge of the opera give the information to those who can’t understand what is being sung about.
My daughter was a little disappointed in Don José but it turned out she’s been listening to a recording of José Carreras in the role so no wonder. We agreed that Escamillo was our favourite of the principals. Carmen was played by a true mezzo (sopranos don’t seem to be welcome in this role these days) and she was rather wary of her few high notes but well up to the dramatic requirements of the role. We liked Michaela (a rather thankless role, I’ve always felt) too.
Not sure what my next opera will be but it had better not end with a woman being stabbed to death as this has happened in the last four I’ve been to.
There’s a review of the production here.