Bizet: Carmen (Verona 2003: Lombard/Domashenko, Berti, Dashuk, Aceto)

It is nearly impossible for anyone in the civilized world to not have heard at least a few numbers from this most popular French opera before. Based on Prosper Mérimée’s novel, this 1875 work used to be regarded as George Bizet’s one hit wonder work (actually his, The Pearl Fishers, contains some really breath-takingly beautiful music, but it wasn’t as regularly performed as Carmen is until a few years ago). Fans of figure-skating will have heard this music a lot, since hardly a year ever passed without one of the skating stars using it in their program.

The story is set in Seville, Spain circa 1830. Don José, an army corporal, is teased by his comrades Sergeant Moralès and Lieutenant Zuniga for missing a visit by his beautiful fiancée Micaëla. Just then the nearby cigarette factory has its lunch break and one worker in particular, the beautiful Carmen (or Carmencita), is sufficiently turned on by José’s feigned indifference that she flirtatiously throws him a flower.

The flower-struck José falls so passionately in love with Carmen that he braves jail time for letting her get away after having started a fight with another factory worker, and then running off with her and her band of smugglers when he is confronted by Zuniga. Alas, José’s passion proves too suffocating for Carmen’s free-spirited nature, and she soon dumps him for the more self-secured and flashily handsome Escamillo, the famous toreador (bull-fighter). Having given up too much in order to be with the gypsy, José comes unhinged when Carmen steadfastly refuses to give him a second chance and the opera rather appropriately ends in a bloody tragedy worth repeating over and over again at prominent opera houses through out the planet.

Sample clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4lAeyCS3B0 (Carmen's Chanson Bohemienne)

Cast:
Carmen ::: Marina Domashenko (mezzo-soprano)
Micaëla ::: Maya Dashuk (soprano)
Fraquita ::: Christina Pastorello (soprano)
Mercédès ::: Milena Josipovic (soprano)
Don José ::: Marco Berti (tenor)
Escamillo ::: Raymond Aceto (baritone)
Zuniga ::: Dario Benini (bass)
Stage Director ::: Franco Zeffirelli
Alain Lombard/ Orchestra, Choir & Corps de Ballet of the Arena di Verona

Recorded live at the open-air Arena di Verona in Italy in July 2003, this very lavish (even by Franco Zeffirelli’s standard) stage production is quite a traditional portrayal of Seville, Spain. The stage is humongous, but Zeffirelli manages to (more than) fill it with what appears to be the entire population of Verona... and its livestock. Everyone know what they’re supposed to be doing, however, and don’t just stand around waiting to sing. Bravo to an obviously good stage direction.

The large and busy set is probably hard for the video-director to edit, though. Some close-up shots show too much (one focusing in on a cigarette factory girl just as her suitor brushes her black wig off her naturally blonde hair)! I also wonder if it is harder for the singers to hear the orchestra on the Verona stage, but all the singers seem to seek out the conductor for musical cue much more often than usual (in the case of Sgt. Morales, he hardly ever takes his eyes off Maestro Lombard whenever he sings). I should note that this is very much something the live audience wouldn’t notice, since they aren't that close to the stage. Opera singers have to keep an eye on the conductor at key moments to keep in sync with the orchestra, but they are usually quite good at not getting caught doing that at key moments. In this performance, that gets rather excessive.

The dangerously beautiful Carmen of Marina Domashenko, the Russian mezzo with striking good look and slender figure, is quite enhanced by a lustrously dark (and large) dramatic mezzo-soprano voice. Her wonderfully imposing stage presence despite of her rather small size (I don’t think she is more than 5'4") is also remarkable. It takes much of the famous Habanera to warm her voice up, though once she does she is steady and sings well... if not more subtle than a sledge hammer in her phrasing. Her sung French is quite hard to decipher (though it was much better when she sang this role at San Diego Opera three years later in 2006). I’m afraid it is hard to sympathize with this domineering Carmen, since her vocal interpretation is always as a manipulative woman. What nuance that is missing in the voice, is displayed in her eyes, face, and body language, however... Definitely a Carmen to both hear and see.... rather than just hearing alone. A very good actress and very handy with the castanets during her Act II dance (Domashenko studied piano and conducting before switching to voice).

Marco Berti is mostly quite good as Don José. A good actor with a very pleasant lyric-spinto tenor voice and clear French diction. He is tender in intimate moments (though goes for assertive rather than tender during his Act II La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (Flower Song)) and is convincingly hot-blooded in temperamental ones. Unfortunately he suffers more than the other principals in terms of being caught staring at the conductor for musical cue on close up shots.

Raymond Aceto’s Escamillo is irritatingly over-postured and showy at the expense of the music for me. The bass-baritone has a beautiful voice... and he takes so much time relishing it that he spends most of the first two acts lagging after the orchestra that isn’t playing all that fast to begin with! I know that Escamillo is supposed to be self-absorbed... but I think he is also supposed to be a charming girls-magnet. This over the top portrayal is more likely a turn-off. The Russian soprano Maya Dashuk is a drop dead gorgeous Micaëla. Her voice is darker and stronger (with a prominent quick vibrato that can be distracting) than most other Micaëlas I’ve heard and her portrayal perhaps more assertive than I’m used to, but it works quite nicely.

The minor roles are mostly well sung (except for Dario Benini’s Zuniga who has such a prominent wobble that it sounds like he’s about to turn into a pudding at any moment) and uniformly well acted.

Maestro Alain Lombard leads a briskly precise read from the orchestra. I’d love to hear more Spanish-ish fire (Spanish-ish because though the story is set in Spain, the opera is very much French) and more exploration in the more lyrical moments, but he probably has enough on his hand just keeping track of his singers in this busy staging.

All in all, this is a good but not great DVD of Carmen. The real draw is Domashenko in the title role, but I think there is a DVD of her in the same role from a 2006 performance in Berlin that will become commercially available soon that sees her in better command of the part (Carmen is her signature role). As of now, I personally prefer the DVD from the Met with Agnes Baltsa in the title role, or the Glyndebourne DVD with Anne-Sofie von Otter rather than this one. If you already have those and want to collect many different interpretations of Carmen, this is a good buy, but I won't recommend this as the only DVD of this opera to have.

2 Sung in French with subtitle in: English, French, Spanish, and Italian. No extra feature whatsoever. Booklet is a thin thing containing tracks list, cast list, and synopsis in English.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12