My seventh Carmen

I think my standards are too high. After having seen this show so many times, and listening to the album even more times, it really takes something special to get my attention. This wasn't it. It wasn't a terrible production of Carmen last night at the Theatre Royal. It just wasn't that great either.

I am afraid this post is going to seem really harsh. There were a lot of things that did not work well in this production. But, honestly, it wasn't a bad production. It was just average.

One of the things that was advertised about this production was the amphitheatre staging - creating a bullring on stage, won't that be exciting! - and the flamenco dancing. This is one of the things that could have been so, so cool. It wasn't. Before the Prelude started, a brass choir came out and played something I didn't recognize as bullfighters of all kinds (matadors, picadors, etc.) walked around the stage. They kept doffing their hats to the audience - I'm not sure if they expected us to cheer or not, but we didn't. And that was all for the bullring. The flamenco was a little bit more involved in the production, but still not as much or as well as I expected. The dancer was in the Act One prelude during the Fate theme, and then was kind of the representation of Carmen's death, so during Act Three "Melons, Coupons" and in Act Four when she actually dies (and even after - they added a dirge at the end while Carmen's body is being carried out). This is where I think my high standards are too high. If I'd never seen Carmen before, I probably would have thought the dancing was really cool. From my perspective, though, it didn't go nearly far enough. (The bullring, on the other hand, definitely felt more like a "LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO" than something that added to the performance.)

Now, here's where it's going to get harsh. There were serious, serious problems (that I had) with the performance itself. Some of the singers sang too much to the audience - they didn't feel like part of the scene. It was especially bad for Micaela in Act One and the smugglers in Act Two. They're supposed to be interacting with the other characters, not just telling us what's going on. It's something really shows the youth of this particular group. The acting in general was not great - Jose was probably the best.

The seduction scene(s) in Act One were really good, although Carmen was juuuust this side of tasteless and reminded me a few times of the LCO production (see my previous post about Carmen). She managed to pull it off, though. It did help that this Micaela was so clearly a girl from the village who had a hero-worship crush on Jose, and he so clearly did not love her except as a messenger from his mother. It makes it a lot easier for him to abandon her if he doesn't actually love her.

They made quite a few cuts as well, some of which made me go, "But I thought....what?" I can understand cutting the youth chorus at the changing of the guard. I can't understand cutting out the "L'amour"s in "Votre toast" - it's where Carmen first really catches Escamillo's eye! It's kind of an important moment! - or the ACT TWO AND ACT THREE ENTR'ACTES. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. ACT THREE HAS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLUTE PARTS IN MUSICAL HISTORY!!!! WHY????!!!!!

Sorry.

Another distracting thing was in "Melons! Coupons!" which is one of my favourite songs in Act Three. Frasquita and Mercedes and Carmen clearly had NO IDEA what "card-reading" meant. They were using playing cards and just tossing them down on their shawls one after another. Do they not listen to the words they are singing? Three cards here, four here. Not fifty-two cards in a pile. And if you're going to use the playing cards, make it consistent. The two or three of diamonds? (A low-numbered red card, at least?) NOT THE DEATH CARD. It's supposed to be serious and ominous and whatever, and I was just going, "Um.....no. This is ridiculous."

But that's not the worst part. The worst part was that the orchestra and the vocalists had the WORST time staying together. I couldn't see the conductor (or the orchestra at all) from where I was sitting so I don't know whether it was a problem with the orchestra or a problem with the singers, but it was definitely a problem. Any time there was a song involving more than a soloist, someone would be off. The worst was, again, in "Melons! Coupons!" when the singers were a full measure ahead of the orchestra. A FULL MEASURE. It was so, so distracting.

It wasn't a terrible performance. It wasn't even the worst performance of Carmen I've ever seen. Actually, no, it probably was, because all the others (except possibly the one here in Nottingham seven or eight years ago that I don't remember any details of) had something spectacular about them. This one was however the most consistently average production that I've ever seen. I'm glad I went - I always enjoy seeing Carmen and it's better to watch opera than just to listen to it - but I wouldn't recommend it, necessarily.