[Met Performance] CID:353291



Carmen
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, January 8, 2010




Carmen (948)
Georges Bizet | Henri Meilhac/Ludovic Halévy
Carmen
Elīna Garanča

Don José
Roberto Alagna

Micaela
Barbara Frittoli

Escamillo
Mariusz Kwiecien

Frasquita
Elizabeth Caballero

Mercédès
Sandra Piques Eddy

Remendado
Keith Jameson

Dancaïre
Earle Patriarco

Zuniga
Keith Miller

Moralès
Trevor Scheunemann

Dancer
Ashley Tuttle

Dancer
Keith Roberts


Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin







Review 1:

Review of David J. Baker in the April 2010 issue of OPERA NEWS

Richard Eyre's new Met production of "Carmen" restores to life a character too often reduced to an ethnic object or a sex object.

The first thing one noticed about the Metropolitan Opera's shrewd new production of "Carmen" (seen Jan. 8) was the absence of a grandstanding directorial agenda. There's no preaching about the evils of society, war or prejudice; no showy iconoclasm. True, the evening ends with the tableau of a slaughtered bull, in an effort at symbolism (is Carmen, too, a wild animal slain for our entertainment?), but this is a momentary aberration, really just an ill-advised afterthought. It's also true that the action has been transposed to the period of the Spanish Civil War, but without a lot of to-do (and not one portrait of Franco). The prevailing mode here is realism - a realism at the service of this drama, not some ideological slant.

What next stood out, and held one's attention absolutely, was the figure of Carmen herself. It should come as no surprise to any admirer of Richard Eyre's 2006 film "Notes on a Scandal" (or his other stage or screen work) that this director can get straight to the heart of any opera he produces. He has done that with "Carmen," restoring life to a character too often reduced to an ethnic profile or sex object. Through detailed gestures, expressive poses and something approaching choreography, his direction focused on the character's charm and appeal, which, combined with her palpable drive and recklessness, kept the viewer poised between delight and dread.

How fully this concept would come to life without the charismatic Elina Garanca in the title role is a good question. Substituting for the originally announced Angela Gheorghiu and to date known in New York only for Rossini's Rosina and Angelina, the lyric mezzo seemed as much at ease with the character's wiles as with the florid demands of the vocal writing. She was equal to any elaborate business contrived by Eyre, or by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and above all she brought energy and beauty to just about every move - even the gymnastically styled murder scene with the equally agile Roberto Alagna.

Garanca portrayed a youthful, mercurial, sexy/sporty Carmen whose freshness and exuberance were a rare delight in this role. She seemed to enjoy toying with a host of objects and articles of clothing for expressive purposes; she also turned other characters into props, playing off both her suitors and her female friends with comic flair.

The show as a whole is no travelogue "Carmen" with sun-drenched vistas. There's blood after the women's Act I brawl; the flirtatious Moralès and his colleagues seem about to molest Micaela, and Remendado pushes his female smugglers around. The counterintuitive habanera finds Carmen doing laundry instead of a seductive dance.

Things are gritty but not ugly. The unit set designed by Rob Howell revolves from one jagged brick structure to another, suggesting a once-monumental cityscape with battle scars. There's a convincing-enough snowy mountain pass for Act III. Except in the Act IV procession,

Howell's costumes are functional and mostly drab, befitting the mood and the '30s period. Compensating swaths of bright blue and blood red appear on scrims during the preludes, which choreographed by Wheeldon to stress the opera's erotic core. He also provides smart-stomping flamenco dances in Act II.

The principals in the cast were just a bit light-voiced for their roles, starting with the soprano-hued, bel canto Carmen herself, whose glance into the abyss in Act III lacked the ideal resonance. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin's lyrical approach showered attention on instrumental details in the richly colored score, but the pace became slack by the final act, apparently to accommodate the singers.

Though not without vocal strain at climactic moments, Alagna made Don José a fully realized, tormented character. Impeccable French diction lent his portrayal strong authenticity. Barbara Frittoli's lovely soft-grained timbre was gracefully deployed in Micaela's quieter passages. Eyre has made Escamillo a less flamboyant figure than we usually see, leaving youthful baritone Mariusz Kwiecien underutilized. Kwiecien projected the toreador song vividly but seemed detached and lackluster thereafter.

The supporting roles were effectively directed and performed, especially by Keith Miller (Zuniga), Elizabeth Caballero (Frasquita) and Sandra Piques Eddy (Mercédès). The Met used "in part" the score as revised by Fritz Oeser, with recitatives but without any of Oeser's restored material. There was fine work from the pit and from the Met's dedicated chorus, and the child choristers scored a hit in Act I's rambunctious street scene.



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