Before there was Johnny and Amber, there was Don José and Carmen, a toxic love that acts as a textbook for how to not have romantic relationships. With the Depp vs. Heard trial putting the topic of intimate partner violence in the news, Minnesota Opera’s production (co-produced with the Glimmerglass Festival) of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” feels particularly timely.
A brutal story of jealousy and violent misogyny, the tragic opéra comique has some of the most ubiquitous melodies in all of opera, with themes that have permeated modern culture. Carmen’s famous “Habenera,” the “Toreador” melody, and other themes have found their way into the Muppet Show episodes, the Marx Brothers, TV ads, the movie “Up,” and many more.
Infused in the music are elements of Spanish folk melodies and flamenco rhythms, which Bizet uses to establish Carmen’s “otherness” as a Romani woman. Rather than minimize the cultural appropriation of Bizet’s music, stage director Denyce Graves leans into the Romani aspect of the plot, highlighting the oppressed group’s humanity by showing their deep sense of community.
“Carmen” at the Ordway, performed with a double cast, is a bit of a homecoming for Graves, who performed the title role with Minnesota Opera back in 1991.
Working with a keen design team, Graves brings a somber, desolate feeling to the piece, full of symbolism. The lighting design by Robert Wierzel and Amith Chandrashaker uses extreme breaks between light and dark to show contrasting life choices: freedom on the one hand, and constraint on the other. When Don José (played on opening night by the impressive Won Whi Choi) deserts the army and runs away with Carmen and the Romani travelers, the set opens up to reveal a bright, white light, one that offers new possibilities. But the new freedom, for Don José, is itself suffocating.
Riccardo Hernández’s scenic design plays up the bullfighter imagery. The first scene features a giant red door that looks like a matador cape. Later, during the bull fight, there are blown up photographs of the toreador in action. These details reinforce the analogy of Don José and Carmen’s relationship with that of a bullfighter and bull, though who is the bull and who is the fighter is a little wiggly.
One the one hand, Carmen, played on opening night by Maya Lahyani, is the smarter of the two, equipped with her intelligence, strength and sexuality. Don José meanwhile is overcome by his own emotions and animal instinct. On the other hand, Don José literally ties Carmen up with a rope when he tries to arrest her — an ominous ending to the first scene.
Carmen just wants the freedom to love how she loves and who she loves, for as long as that love lasts. Lahyani’s performance, with her throaty sound and slightly gawky yet fierce sensuality, makes a strong case for why that should be OK. Ultimately, being her true self is not permitted in the context of patriarchal structures and Don José’s unhinged brutality.
Symone Harcum, who was a delight in Minnesota Opera’s “The Anonymous Lover” earlier in the season, brings a stellar performance as Micaela, Don José’s childhood sweetheart. Forthright and good, Micaela has her own strength, and Harcum sounds incredible.
Throughout the story, Bizet’s music seduces with its style and emotion. With an orchestra ably conducted by Elias Grandy, furious triangle playing, a marvelous on-stage Spanish guitar solo, and a strong cast of singers, the music is a riveting accompaniment to the story’s horrific trajectory.
‘CARMEN’
- What: Minnesota Opera’s production of “Carmen”
- When: 7:30 p.m. May 12, 14, 19, 21; 2 p.m. May 15 and 22
- Where: The Ordway, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
- Tickets: $25-258; my.mnopera.org
- Capsule: Bizet’s riveting music carries audiences along on a plot of toxic violence and murderous jealousy.
