Opera Colorado’s new production of “Carmen” isn’t risky as much as it is nervy. It takes a considerable amount of confidence, or perhaps temerity, to present an opera with no sets. At $167.60 a ticket.
What is grand opera, after all, but a staged play in which the dialogue is sung rather than spoken. You have singers, you have sets, you have an orchestra. Done well, it’s a satisfying trio, and the expense of presenting all three at once justifies the price.
Mess with that equation, as Opera Colorado is doing, and you have to balance it out somewhere else. Are the performances of the singers and the musicians so heightened that the sets won’t be missed?
There were times Saturday night when the math almost worked out. The cast sang impressively and acted in a way that helped the audience understand that this particular night at the opera was more a study of the characters in Georges Bizet’s masterpiece and less the sort of foo-foo pageant expensive opera productions can become.
There was, in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, a particularly charming Carmen offered up by earthy mezzo soprano Sandra Piques Eddy, who made her character’s reckless abuse of lovers seem matter-of-fact.There was a sharp downfall for tenor Adam Klein’s Don Jose, the poor soldier she bluffs and burns along the way. If you go to the opera for singing and acting, you probably left satisfied.
But if you go for the spectacle, you may be wondering why the company didn’t let you know upfront, and clearly, that this was missing some major components. Then you might have skipped this one.
The orchestra was on stage, not in the pit as tradition would have it, and there was a spotlight on conductor Robert Wood‘s prominent head, dead center, so you never forgot its presence. The chorus members were on risers in the back, rather than integrated into the play as townspeople. They wore white shirts and black bottoms and held their music scores chest-high like a church choir.
The principal cast did have on costumes, and there was a chair or three on stage as props and a lit backdrop. But this was essentially a choreographed concert, not a staged opera and it’s natural that some people may have felt short-changed.
To be fair, Opera Colorado’s website did alert ticket buyers that it would be “placing the orchestra on the stage, and creating compelling drama through lighting, props and costumes.” But the online description doesn’t say “concert version” or “concert opera” two common terms in the business.
Any disappointment would only highlight the things that were lacking in general. The Ellie isn’t a great orchestra hall and the musicians sounded muted, as if they actually were in the pit. That made their stage presence a gimmick and, in effect, more of a distraction in an opera that was supposed to be eliminating them. As for the chorus, it is key to moving the drama forward. Pulled out of the scenery, the plot flubbed around a bit.
The trade-off was costly. “Carmen’s” famous matador parade in Act 4 fell flat without its usual crowd scene. The production had a nice informality, but ultimately, there were no great revelations about the characters that audiences haven’t seen before.
Concert versions of operas, where the orchestra is usually on stage, can be terrific. For sure, “Carmen” is a good candidate for this brand of opera-lite, mostly because the melodies have crept into the popular culture and everyone knows them.
But it all comes back to the equation. Did ticket buyers got their $167.60 worth? The couple in Row J did, they led the standing ovation for Eddy. The two women in Row N did not, they grumbled their way out the door.
It’s sad to think of any art form that way, as a commodity, as if you could charge for it by the minute or the song or the brush stroke or plié. But, ultimately, that is part of the deal.
A lot of people who go to opera can afford it, they take their risks and come back the next time. Other people save up and splurge on a special night. They take their risks, too. But they’re less likely to come back if the experience lacks the magic that makes opera special.
Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540, rrinaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/rayrinaldi
