November 17, 2008
Ellen Kent’s touring productions are often advertised and remembered for their focus on accessibility and entertainment, and for their extravagant spectacle (live animals, champagne fountains!) – they’re not just opera, they’re Grand Opera.
For her 2008/9 seasons (Tosca, La Bohème, Carmen, Turandot and Aïda) she has taken a new approach to set design: all five productions are based around a magnificent ‘colosseum’ set designed by Will Bowen, and are ‘played in a way influenced by the great dramatists Aeschylus, Euripdes and Sophocles’. This elegant set is a fine creation, with a graceful curve enclosing the central stage, an impressive central archway, raised arcades for spectators, various exposed and hidden entrances, gracious curved staircases, and myriad of fine details (not least the evocative statuary) – imagine Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico crossed with the chateau from The Matrix Reloaded. In its own right I greatly admire this set, but in the context of this production of Carmen I found it unsuccessful. There were a few evocative moments (most notably the Flamenco dirge added to the end, performed from the upper galleries while looking down at Carmen’s funeral procession and the illuminated statue of the Virgin Mary). In the main, however, its shape and logistics rarely added anything and its classical formality seemed completely at odds with the narrative’s settings. We later learned that there had been a variety of technical hitches during this production – for instance, the set should have been wreathed in smoke for the gypsy encampment in the mountains, which would have gone some way towards ameliorating the dissonance between the supposedly rustic setting and onstage set. Other dissonances were more conceptual – for instance, the final act takes place outside the bullring and deliberately contrasts Escamillo and his off-stage crowds with the intimacy of Carmen’s confrontation with Don José. Tonight’s amphitheatre setting disrupted this contrast, while the dichotomy between on-stage crowds facing outwards/off-stage and on-set statuary facing inwards/on-stage was visually distracting.
These production infelicities would have been rendered secondary if the musical standard had been high; sadly, there were myriad problems. The members of the (locally recruited) on-stage brass band that opened the performance looked embarrassed and uncertain as they shambled on, and played in much the same manner. The tuning, balance and ensemble of the main orchestra was consistently poor, and the rhythm and articulation of even some of the most famous numbers often took several phrases to settle down (and the orchestra nearly spoilt a highlight of this production it wasn’t even involved in, as its members noisily packed up and talked to each other during the concluding funeral procession). Several of the lead singers failed to step up to the demands of their roles (despite their impressive résumés): Zarui Vardanean sang consistently jarring transitions between head- and chest-voices in Carmen’s iconic aria 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle', and Irakli Grigali was egregiously out of tune throughout Don José’s 'La fleur que tu m'avais jetée'. Against these disappointments, Irina Vingradova, Maria Tsonina and Tatiana Virlan all shone for both their singing and their acting as Micaela, Frasquia and Mercedes. The undoubted stars of the night were flamenco dancer Samantha Quy and her vocal accompanist Fernando de Sevilla. Both completely justified their top billing on the poster and in themselves made the evening worthwhile.
I went to this opera with high hopes, and remain enthusiastic about Ellen Kent’s productions. I’m not in a position to know why the quality control failed tonight – have the performers and stage managers become bored and sloppy during a long touring season? – but failed it did. I hope remaining performances of this production show more discipline, and look forward to future productions that recapture the sheer entertainment value that was so much a characteristic of earlier seasons.
For her 2008/9 seasons (Tosca, La Bohème, Carmen, Turandot and Aïda) she has taken a new approach to set design: all five productions are based around a magnificent ‘colosseum’ set designed by Will Bowen, and are ‘played in a way influenced by the great dramatists Aeschylus, Euripdes and Sophocles’. This elegant set is a fine creation, with a graceful curve enclosing the central stage, an impressive central archway, raised arcades for spectators, various exposed and hidden entrances, gracious curved staircases, and myriad of fine details (not least the evocative statuary) – imagine Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico crossed with the chateau from The Matrix Reloaded. In its own right I greatly admire this set, but in the context of this production of Carmen I found it unsuccessful. There were a few evocative moments (most notably the Flamenco dirge added to the end, performed from the upper galleries while looking down at Carmen’s funeral procession and the illuminated statue of the Virgin Mary). In the main, however, its shape and logistics rarely added anything and its classical formality seemed completely at odds with the narrative’s settings. We later learned that there had been a variety of technical hitches during this production – for instance, the set should have been wreathed in smoke for the gypsy encampment in the mountains, which would have gone some way towards ameliorating the dissonance between the supposedly rustic setting and onstage set. Other dissonances were more conceptual – for instance, the final act takes place outside the bullring and deliberately contrasts Escamillo and his off-stage crowds with the intimacy of Carmen’s confrontation with Don José. Tonight’s amphitheatre setting disrupted this contrast, while the dichotomy between on-stage crowds facing outwards/off-stage and on-set statuary facing inwards/on-stage was visually distracting.
These production infelicities would have been rendered secondary if the musical standard had been high; sadly, there were myriad problems. The members of the (locally recruited) on-stage brass band that opened the performance looked embarrassed and uncertain as they shambled on, and played in much the same manner. The tuning, balance and ensemble of the main orchestra was consistently poor, and the rhythm and articulation of even some of the most famous numbers often took several phrases to settle down (and the orchestra nearly spoilt a highlight of this production it wasn’t even involved in, as its members noisily packed up and talked to each other during the concluding funeral procession). Several of the lead singers failed to step up to the demands of their roles (despite their impressive résumés): Zarui Vardanean sang consistently jarring transitions between head- and chest-voices in Carmen’s iconic aria 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle', and Irakli Grigali was egregiously out of tune throughout Don José’s 'La fleur que tu m'avais jetée'. Against these disappointments, Irina Vingradova, Maria Tsonina and Tatiana Virlan all shone for both their singing and their acting as Micaela, Frasquia and Mercedes. The undoubted stars of the night were flamenco dancer Samantha Quy and her vocal accompanist Fernando de Sevilla. Both completely justified their top billing on the poster and in themselves made the evening worthwhile.
I went to this opera with high hopes, and remain enthusiastic about Ellen Kent’s productions. I’m not in a position to know why the quality control failed tonight – have the performers and stage managers become bored and sloppy during a long touring season? – but failed it did. I hope remaining performances of this production show more discipline, and look forward to future productions that recapture the sheer entertainment value that was so much a characteristic of earlier seasons.