The cast was headed by Ekaterina Gubanova in the title role as Carmen. Ms Gubanova has a beautiful voice that just seemed a shade small for the role in comparison with the other voices in the cast. In her solo numbers she came through well but she was often lost in the ensembles.
Joseph Calleja was splendid as Don Jose, his wonderful voice soaring to the heights. At the end of 'La Fleur' his high B natural began forte and was followed by an amazing messa di voce to ppp! Beautifully sung.
Eleonora Buratto was Michaéla, singing with a sumptuous tone and acting beautifully.
Christian van Horn was excellent as Escamillo. His reverberant voice covered the wide range needed for this role with ease.
The stage direction, costumes, and scenery were another thing.
The stage director, Rob Ashford, who is also a choreographer, decided to add a lot of dance to the work as well as adding a character of a Bull, who was apparently supposed to represent Fate. The Bull would appear at moments of heightened drama to indicate that this was a big moment in the opera, thereby upstaging the principals who were singing their hearts out. This was particularly annoying in the last act as Escamillo and Carmen are singing their final love-hate duet. The bull and a dancing Torerro were fighting a battle at the rear of the stage as Don Jose is declaring his love for Carmen and finally stabs her. A really bad idea.
Julie Weiss is listed as 'Original Costume Designer', whatever that means. In any event Carmen was dressed in black, except for Act 3 when she wore a red skirt. All the women from the cigarette factory wore black, which is really only worn regularly by older women who are widowed in Spain and Portugal.
Also all of the women in the cigarette factory would not be wearing a sort of uniform.
David Rockwell, the set designer, had his work cut out for him with the Lyric's limited stage possibilities.
His Act 3 mountains looked like large Ice Bergs or the beginnings of the pyramids.
I could go on and on.
Harry Bicket was the admirable conductor who led the orchestra in a very lively and musical performance.
I have seen quite a few Carmens in my lifetime. My first was Risè Stevens at the Old Met in the 1950's. In the last act when she was stabbed by Don Jose, she grabbed the red hangings from the wall of the Bull Ring and pulled them down as she fell, creating a flood on blood on the stage.
No Bull needed!
I saw Regine Crespin in the role at the Met after her very successful transition from soprano to mezzo. She was always a beautiful singer and actress.
I coached and witnessed Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in her Boston Lyric Opera performance in the role. There again the director tried to change the period in which the opera was set. The smugglers were a motorcycle gang in leather jackets, including Lorraine. Last night's production was set during the Spanish Civil War which had nothing to do with the plot. I think, for the most part, stage directors should stop monkeying around with the time setting of operas and assume the composer knew what he wanted.
Vocally it was a thrilling evening.
