While the rest of you were either at Seattle's TURANDOT or Chicago's THE CONSUL (or wishing you were at either of those places), yours truly was in Salt Lake City for Utah Opera's CARMEN. Thus, I submit to you my review, along with next season's repertoire.
Conductor..........................Stewart Robertson
Director..................................Anne Ewers
Costumes........................Susan Memmott-Allred
Lighting..........................Nicholas Cavallaro
Chorus Master................Douglas A. Kinney-Frost
Sets by John Conklin, from Houston Grand Opera
Carmen...............................Adria Firestone
Don Jose..............................Michael Meyers*
Micaela..............................Julia Kierstine*
Escamillo...........................Grant Youngblood*
Mercedes....Margaret Lattimore*
Frasquita.......Diane Owens*
Remendado...Robert Hoyt*
Dancairo....Jeffrey Buchman*
Zuniga......Randall Jakobsh*
Morales.......Edward Albert*
CARMEN is a warhorse: one of those works that is supposed to be unkillable. Well, I saw last night how one can kill CARMEN. Treat it as if it were an amateur operetta production. In the opening scenes, make certain that the soldiers act like the Keystone Kops, or else the constables from PIRATES OF PENZANCE. Apparently, director Anne Ewers couldn't decide what these soldiers were supposed to do onstage, so she had them act silly. It was irritating enough when three of them stole an apple and played "keepaway" with it with the fruit vendor the first time. Then, they did it AGAIN in the final act. Here's an idea, Anne. It's hot in Spain. Why not have the people stay still most of the time? Ironically, the moments that one most wants movement (and the music seems to warrant it), the "Chanson Boheme" and the entrance of the Toreros, there was precious little movment onstage.
Many people are opposed to "concept" directors, and I've seen my share of idiotic "concept" productions. I must say, however, that "concept" directors have one thing going for them: they have some sort of idea about the opera. This CARMEN was free of any ideas. The only concept seemed to be: "Hey! Let's put on CARMEN!" Where's Ruth Berghaus when you really need her?
The sets, by John Conklin, come from Houston Grand Opera. They were just fine, showing a bleak view of Seville. The costumes were (mostly) just fine, but why, if this were such a hot day in Seville, were there so many men dressed up like Brigham Young?
This CARMEN was the Opera Comique version, with spoken dialogues instead of recitatives. Unfortunately, someone had the bright idea of performing the dialogue in English, while all of the singing was done in the original French. Now I have nothing against opera in English: I have enjoyed many operas in the vernacular. But if you are going to sing an opera in French, do the dialogue in French. If you want to do an opera in English, do the whole thing in English. Surely director Ewers or conductor Stewart Robertson should have known there was something amiss.
There were musical cuts as well, probably to prevent the company from having to pay overtime to the musicians.
As I've noted above, the musical aspects were pefectly adequate, sometimes more so. Conductor Stewart Robertson kept a nice balance between pit and singers. His "Chanson Boheme" was well-conducted, moving almost imperceptibly from languor to Dionysiac frenzy.
Among the singers, Grant Youngblood's Escamillo takes top honors: his toneis slightly woolly and dense, but he created a magnetic figure, making him the star of every scene he was in. Adria Firestone has a big, buzzy voice for the title role. Her Carmen, however, was less a temptress than an all-out slut. Not terribly sexy. I tend to think that the direction was mostly to blame, however. Michael Meyers, as Don Jose, had a somewhat light, plangent tenor. His aria was successful, except for the high note, which was crooned. His murder of Carmen was quite exciting. Julia Kierstine as Micaela was wonderful in her aria, much less successful in her scenes with Don Jose. But who cares about Micaela, anyway? Among the supporting singers, the most successful was the Mercedes of Margaret Lattimore, whose mezzo has a very sensual timbre: perhaps she is a Carmen of tomorrow.
Incidentally, Utah Opera now has an official home page (though it has little on it as of yet). the URL is http://www.utahopera.org
Meanwhile, in my hometown of Logan, the Utah Festival Opera will be performing their usual season in July and August. The 1997 repertoire consists of TOSCA, THE MERRY WIDOW, and Frank Loesser's GREENWILLOW, the first performances of this work since it flopped on Broadway in the 1960's.
The 1998 UFOC schedule has not been finalized yet, but will probably consist of either RIGOLETTO or Barber's VANESSA, either ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD or CENERENTOLA, and probably the musical verson of O'Neill's, "Ah, Wilderness!": TAKE ME ALONG.
Copyright 1996 by Dale G. Abersold