REVIEW: Carmen at the Royal Opera House, London
IN the past year, I have seen this hugely popular work by Bizet at three opera houses.
The English National Opera had a rather dodgy modern production that worked thanks to a gloriously slutty interpretation of the role of Carmen that fitted the production perfectly.
Glyndebourne's Carmen, however, was sensuous and deliciously seductive, which was even better.
Now the ROH has brought us a magnificently sultry Carmen in the alluring shape of Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova.
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Maximova sings, sighs and exposes her thighs to just the right extent to show why Don Jose falls so hopelessly for her and becomes so abjectly miserable when she abandons him in favour of the swaggering matador Escamillo.
Having made the double mistake of not shooting Escamillo when he had the chance and not seeking the help of a relationship counsellor when things started turning for the worse between him and Carmen, Don Jose becomes trapped on a a doom-laden course ending with him killing Carmen and giving himself up.
A magnificently sultry Carmen in the alluring shape of Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova
His fate is particularly tragic in this production as Micaela, the country girl to whom he was betrothed, is played by Australian soprano Nicole Car quite magnificently.
Her delightful voice perfectly conveys the innocence, vulnerability and emotion of the part and she fully deserved the huge applause she received from the audience on the first night.
The US tenor Bryan Hymel gave a strong performance as Don Jose, but his voice lacks the warmth needed to make this wimpish corporal likeable.
His rival, Escamillo (Alexander Vinogradov) also had a beautifully strong voice and general rather wooden personality, but at least he entered on a beautiful black horse and killed a few bulls offstage. Just the soprt of thing to appeal to Carmen, I suppose.
This revival of Francesca Zambello's production is gloriously traditional and shows that you don't need to change or update great operas to get the best out of them.
With Bertrand de Billy achieving a splendidly vigorous effect from the orchestra with some excellent control of changes of pace, this is certainly a Carmen to savour.
Box Office: 020 7304 4000 or www.roh.org.uk (until November 30)
