OPERA OF THE WEEK
CARMEN Royal Opera House Until Mar 16
Barrie Kosky’s hectic new production, with way too much going on, is a sad evening where the nonsense on stage is compounded by second-rate singing.
I’m a big fan of Kosky. His Saul at Glyndebourne and The Nose at Covent Garden were triumphs, both winning golden opinions for their fearless flair and imagination. But that does not happen here, for one very obvious reason. Both are fringe pieces that need all the help they can get. Carmen is at the heart of the repertory, so what are we supposed to think when she comes on in a gorilla outfit? Or when Don Jose stumbles in looking like her dad, in grey duds more suitable for a bus conductor?
And it doesn’t help that Italian tenor Francesco Meli not only looks lame but sings drably; a fringe international tenor shouldn’t be given a pivotal role like this in one of the world’s great opera houses.
The set is dominated by lots of steps, which the principals run up and down to shouts and cheers from the chorus, as if it’s an ITV talent show
The set is dominated by lots of steps, which the principals run up and down to shouts and cheers from the chorus, as if it’s an ITV talent show.
The recitatives added after Bizet’s death are chopped. Hooray! But are replaced by Kosky’s own clever-clever take on the drama, recited crudely and over-loudly by a taped voice. This ‘Bedtime With Bizet’ storytelling doesn’t do it for me. There’s lots of dance, some of it good. But other bits, like three guys smooching around at the beginning of the supposedly tragic Act III, are a couple of hundred tents too camp for me.
Escamillo the bullfighter, as presented here, is unathletic and uncharismatic, a real wuss. An impression not helped by Kostas Smoriginas having neither the range nor the amplitude for the part.
Anna Goryachova as Carmen and Italian tenor Francesco Meli as Don Jose who not only looks lame but sings drably; a fringe international tenor shouldn’t be given a pivotal role like this
As for the Micaela of Kristina Mkhitaryan, she’s shrill and blousy, a million miles away from the shy girl-next-door Bizet intended.
In case you think I’m being too harsh, my first Covent Garden Carmen, back in 1973, had Kiri Te Kanawa as an adorable Micaela and the young Placido Domingo as a honey-toned Don Jose. Those were the days.
Only Anna Goryachova, an inexperienced singer at this level, as Carmen, makes a positive impression.
In the pit, the Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa, wrongly passed over for the Glyndebourne principal conductorship, excels. But this evening is way too far gone to be saved even by first-class conducting.