Carmen

by Georges Bizet

seen at Covent Garden on 16 November 2015

This is a revival of Royal Opera's 2006 production originally directed by Francesca Zambello (here directed by Duncan MacFarland) and designed by Tanya McCallin. It was conducted by Alexander Joel with Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen, Andrea Carè as Don José, Gábor Bretz as Escamillo and Sonya Yoncheva as Micaëla.

A compelling reason for seeing this particular performance was to have been the appearance of Jonas Kaufmann as Don José, but as he was ill Andrea Carè took the part, and sang very creditably; he was received most enthusiastically by the audience, as were the other principals. Indeed, the musical standards were high, with clear and attractive singing, fine orchestral playing and good chorus work. Carmen was as wilful as might be, with a fabulously scornful laugh in the first act, and a superb dynamic range for the tricky arias. Don José was convincingly tormented and the fatal mixture of weak will and desperation was well conveyed, while Escamillo was a commanding presence as the celebrity toreador. 

The setting, and the production as a whole, was traditional. In the first act, massive plastered walls represented a town square in Seville where typically scenic Spanish life could be seen in transit. This included a peasant leading a docile donkey laden with produce around the stage, and a crowd of townsfolk and children. The donkey reappeared in the third act, where the same walls differently configured did somewhat less convincing duty as a mountain fastness (very suitable for abseiling, it turned out). In the second act Escamillo entered on horseback, while in the fourth act he led Carmen in procession on his horse.

Livestock on stage is always problematic. Either the animals behave (as on this occasion), perhaps distracting the audience into conjectures about training and preparation, or else they do not, in which case they will cause a major disturbance. In this case, I felt their presence was symptomatic of a realistic approach which slightly misfired. Escamillo would never be seen on a completely docile horse - but of course a fiery charger would have been out of the question. And the staging in general was meant to evoke sultry southern Spain, but no-one looked particularly hot and the result was picturesque rather than dramatic. Perhaps there were too many people on stage in the crowd scenes. An over-populated smugglers' band in Act 3 looks oddly ineffective when strangers such as Micaëla (hardly a threat in any case) turn up.

In consequence, there was not a great sense of danger about the proceedings. It is interesting to compare this with the recent ENO production (also a revival), which, for example, presented a far more edgy relationship between the soldiers and the townspeople (and in particular the girls from the cigarette factory). Perhaps at the Coliseum the presence of cars on stage was a gimmick comparable to the Ryal Opera's horse and donkey, but they seemed far less gratuitous.