Damiano Michieletto’s staging of Carmen is now on its first revival at the Royal Opera House, having somewhat divided opinion when unveiled last year.
Georges Bizet’s maybe too ubiquitous operatic masterpiece tells the story of a hapless Spanish soldier torn between his village girlfriend, Micaela, and the free-spirited, rebellious “gypsy” Carmen, culminating in tragedy. It caused a scandal on its first performance in 1875; the audience at Paris’s Opéra Comique was not accustomed to heroines being murdered. Michieletto updates the action to an unspecified point in the late 20th century. It’s not a pretty sight and it’s not supposed to be.
This revival, however, is all about the lead couple, Freddie de Tommaso and Aigul Akhmetshina – a musical match made in heaven, aka the Covent Garden casting department.
Photo: Marc BrennerDe Tommaso hits the jackpot as the anti-hero Don José, providing all the earthy brawn to the sound that one could wish for. This José is on a doomed quest to escape the control of his terrifyingly traditional mother, a silent figure in black who stalks the scene and who implicitly triumphs when Carmen is killed. If de Tommaso seems a tad wooden at first, it makes the ending all the more believable: he completely snaps, unleashing all that pent-up fury.
Akhmetshina (who is only 28) is already one of the world’s most in-demand Carmens, endowed with a miracle of a voice that is rich, dark, voluminous, pliable, unshakeable, seductive and more, but above all conveying a marvellous sense of naturalness and ease. Michieletto has made Carmen herself unusually vulnerable, an outsider reviled by the crowd, crumpling into insecurity in her solitary moments. This makes her murder scene all the more horrific as it ratchets up under the glare of bilious yellow lighting.
Photo: Marc BrennerMicaela is portrayed as a dysfunctional village frump, but her music remains gorgeous and the magnificent singing of soprano Yaritza Véliz matches her colleagues for power, beauty and persuasion. Lukasz Golinski as the toreador Escamillo was sporadically fine, and full marks to the children’s chorus for feistiness and some super screams.
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Sir Mark Elder draws sumptuous, detailed playing from the Royal Opera House Orchestra, allowing room for everyone to relish the big tunes. Some of the tempi on this occasion felt excessively broad, however, and as Michieletto’s direction emphasises the enervating southern heat, Act One’s energy tended to drain away. Throughout, a tauter, more fiery approach to the Spanish dance rhythms would have been welcome.
Given its stupendous leading couple, though, in the end the evening tipped towards the simply unmissable.
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