Carmen is the tour de force of classical opera. It is a work of supreme melodrama and passion that showcases many of opera’s greatest and most recognisable pieces of music, from Carmen’s Habanera to the Toreador song, to Micaela’s lament which have entered the popular consciousness. It is the most accessible and popular work of Opera, and has been a key piece in the Royal Opera houses repertoire for decades. What follows is an exciting, well-acted and well-rehearsed performance, but one that feels slightly too comfortable.
Carmen follows the titular character, a gypsy notorious for her beauty and charm who, after being arrested and seeking to escape, seduces a straight laced army commandant Don Jose from a life of service and his marriage to his sweetheart Micaela. Jose falls deeply in love with her yet but she soon tires of his slavish devotion and falls in love with the superstar bullfighter (Toreador) Jose grows more and more heartbroken and obsessed, eventually stabbing Carmen to death in a fit of jealous rage.
Don Jose is alternately noble, tragic and pathetic character, and it takes skill to play him with the necessary doses of sympathy and pathos, and Roberto Alagna’s performances is one the best I have seen. Anita Rachvelishvili’s Carmen may not look the part of a great seductress, but she certainly sounds it, which is much more important, and has a voice that is powerful while still sounding appropriately sultry and with the perfect hint of menace.
The only complaint I had with the performances was Vito Priantes’ Bullfighter. His voice, while good, does not project particularly well and lacks the necessary timbre for such a dangerous or exciting figure; it’s not particularly powerful, masculine or exciting, which is a problem when his character is supposed to be a direct foil to the weak willed and feeble Jose. He comes across as quite dainty, almost if he is playing an acrobat rather than a warrior.
His entrance on stage, which is supposed to be one of the defining moments of the Opera occurs on a live horse; this could have brought some excitement to his performance, but it comes across as quite superfluous, as it trots on stage limply merely to be walked off within a minute. It’s little more than an easily discarded prop. You only have to watch a recording of Lawrence Tibbets magnetism and swagger when he strides on stage to realise the power this scene when done well, but this is one of the weaker parts of the whole production when it should be a showpiece.
Carmen is still a rousing work, and it is difficult not to enjoy Bizet’s timeless music or the Royal Opera House’s lavish production values. It’s a perfect introduction for anyone unfamiliar with opera, but for experienced opera-goers it is a very solid, but slightly underwhelming performance.
