1. Carmen on DVD--Complete Review(EDITED) - Florentine Opera

CARMEN ON DVD
Top Recommendations--Dialogue versions
Jordan: von Otter, Haddock, Milne, Naouri (McVicar)(Glyndebourne, 2002)(Opus Arte)
(Dialogue version)
David McVicar consistently stages some of the finest opera productions around these
days, and this 2002 production of <strong>Carmen</strong> is no exception. McVicar has a remarkable ability to
remain extremely faithful to the text of an opera and yet bring fresh insight and imagination to
even the most familiar works. His <strong>Carmen</strong> is a highly realistic approach to a realistic work and
is not overlaid with a radical “concept,” yet its dramatic impact is that of a brilliant new work.
Throw in a fine cast of singing actors and a stylish conductor and you have a totally mesmerizing
production of a work that seems new, no matter how many times you may have seen it. Just to
take one example, in his staging of the first act, McVicar and his designer, Michael Vale,
essentially turn the usual setting inside out. Instead of a large open town square with the
headquarters for the soldiers overshadowed by the townspeople, he gives us a barred enclosure
that is an extension of the guard building, while the streets and the townspeople are seen through
the fence at the rear. Instead of masses of people milling around, the townspeople pass by singly
or in small groups and always purposefully, they are clearly busy with their affairs. When the
children come to watch the changing of the guard they are a brash, irreverent bunch who are
there to mock the soldiers. Instead of picturesquely marching around, they keep pounding on the
metal bars (in time with their music). The other half of the downstage area is also a barred
enclosure where the factory girls take their break, while the would-be suitors are outside,
crowding up against the fence to get a look at the women and sneak into the enclosure if
possible. In Act Two, Lillas Pastia’s inn is a crowded, smoky dive whose customers are
fraternizing enthusiastically. In this gritty world, no one is squeaky clean and sexuality is always
in the air. Anne Sophie von Otter’s <strong>Carmen</strong> thoroughly enjoys her power over men and her
provocative flirting makes their fascination completely understandable. When she takes an
interest in someone, he hasn’t a chance. In her first casual connection with Escamillo, she
almost offhandedly draws his attention so strongly that his current girlfriend who is
accompanying him stalks out in a fury. Again and again the director finds telling moments in his
staging which clarify and intensify the drama, as when Micaela returns at the end of Act One just
in time to see José let <strong>Carmen</strong> escape and face arrest. Marcus Haddock sings beautifully and
clearly depicts Don José’s descent into madness and brutality. Lisa Milne as Micaela and
Laurent Naouri as Escamillo bring more depth to their characters than usual, and although
Naouri is the only native French singer in the cast, everyone handles the extensive spoken
dialogue fluently and effectively. Even for veterans of Bizet’s much performed opera this is a
must-see production.
Gardiner: Antonacci, Richards, Gillet, Cavallier (Noble)(Orchestre Révolutionnaire et
Romantique, 2009)(fra musica)(Dialogue version)(Includes Morales scene)
This production, staged in the theatre of <strong>Carmen</strong>’s creation, is an exciting, beautiful and
genuinely revelatory performance. The Opéra Comique is an intimate space, seating about 1250,
which places the audience close to the stage in an excellent acoustic. When combined with a
modestly-sized orchestra using 19 th Century instruments, the result is an intimate, vividly colored
musical experience that seems ideal for a work written for just such conditions. Needless to say,

the original dialogue version is used, exceptionally well acted by the singers who don’t have to
shout to be heard. The musical edition incorporates some of the rediscovered musical elements
from the Fritz Oeser edition but avoids the questionable elements in that version. Musically the
performance seems like the equivalent of a beautifully restored oil painting with vivid colors and
striking clarity of detail. Adrian Noble’s staging is not an antiquarian attempt to recreate the
original production but it does have a freshness of approach and a logic that is compelling and
takes full advantage of the intimacy of the environment. Mark Thompson’s designs have the
warmth and subtlety of a fine painting and his costumes are refreshingly realistic. Details are
highly specific to the text and the drama, when the factory girls come out for their break they are
sweaty and tired, as is <strong>Carmen</strong> when she enters. Anna Caterina Antonacci sings the Habanera
with a languorous sensuality that is intimately seductive and her entire performance is filled with
spontaneity, a sense that things are happening for the first time. Her Don José, Andrew
Richards, matches her spontaneity and traces the gradual decline of this country boy who is in
over his head with moving conviction, in the final scene it is impossible not to feel sorry for him
even as he has descended into homicidal madness. Anne-Catherine Gillet and Nicolas Cavallier
as Micaela and Escamillo share the qualities of spontaneity and dramatic plausibility and the
entire cast sings so well that nothing distracts from the characters and the drama. Conductor
John Eliot Gardiner’s treatment of the score is totally idiomatic and he surely was a prime mover
in obtaining such beautiful and sensitive singing from the fine cast. His Monteverdi Choir, long
identified with early music, once again proves to be an ensemble of fine actors as well as
eloquent singers. The intimate performance space allows for a somewhat smaller chorus than
usual and the director handles the crowd scenes with great fluidity and imagination. Highly
recommended.
Haitink: Ewing, McCauley, McLaughlin, Holloway (Hall)(Glyndebourne, 1985)(Kultur)
(Dialogue version)
Peter Hall’s Glyndebourne production takes a radical approach to Bizet’s opera: he treats
it as a legitimate musical drama with a cohesive and motivated action in which the words are to
be taken as seriously as the music. The spoken dialogue is given complete, a choice which fills
out many elements of character and motivation that are usually missing in the usual recitative or
abridged dialogue versions. As stage director and video director Hall assumes that the audience
will be interested in the words as well as in the music. Gone is all the extraneous pacing and
semaphoring intended to “act out” the meaning of the words and fill the supposed “gaps” in the
flow of the action whenever there is a moment of non-verbal music. The result is a powerful,
realistic drama, which truly does justice to Bizet’s masterpiece. Crucial to its impact is the fine
acting and singing of his cast, headed by his then wife, Maria Ewing, whose <strong>Carmen</strong> is truly
memorable. Ewing’s delivery of the music and the text is vividly characterized and her body
language and expressive face add a further dimension to the portrayal. Ewing has a unique
ability to communicate powerfully when she is completely motionless, and Hall utilizes that skill
to the fullest, and he draws performances from the other cast members in a similar economical
and realistic vein. Musically the performance is excellent and so fully integrated into the whole
of the drama that it never draws attention to the fact that people are singing as well as talking;
there is a dramatic flow that is riveting. As was customary at Glyndebourne at that time, the
recording was made in the theatre but without an audience after a run of public performances,
and the absence of applause for individual numbers greatly enhances the continuity of the flow
for home viewing. Of course, Hall’s approach assumes that the audience can understand the

words, which must have been a handicap in pre-titles days, but it is ideally suited to video, where
subtitles provide the necessary link, and the intimacy of the old Glyndebourne theatre is a further
asset in allowing for subtle detail in the acting and singing. There is nothing flashy about this
production, but it has a dramatic power and integrity that are rare in my experience of this
remarkable opera.
Recommended, but with caution (R-rated)(Dialogue version)
Piollet: Uria-Monzon, Alagna, Poplavskaya, Schrott (Bieito)(Gran Teatre del Liceu,
Barcelona, 2011)(Cmajor)(Dialogue version)
As might be expected from a production staged by Calixto Bieito, his <strong>Carmen</strong> lives in a
totally different world than that of traditional productions. Bieito is noted for his politically
slanted, physically violent and sexually explicit stagings and doesn’t disappoint here. I find this
production immensely exciting and convincing, but I am sure it will not be for all tastes. To start
with, there is almost no scenery in the usual sense. The action takes place on an earth-colored
bare oval platform surrounded by total darkness. In Act One there is a telephone booth and a
flagpole, while in Act Two Lillas Pastia’s dive becomes an automobile (a dusty Mercedes),
which drives on holding <strong>Carmen</strong>, Mércedès, Frasquita and the two officers, Moralès and Zuniga.
Lillas Pastia also arrives and sets up hampers, deck chairs and a Christmas tree (!). In Act Three
the stage is occupied by a gigantic cutout silhouette of a bull and smugglers arrive in a fleet of
motorcars. In the final act the stage is totally bare except for a large white circle painted as the
crowd gathers by Lillas Pastia, who appears as a kind of demonic presence repeatedly during the
production. The costumes and vehicles place to time as the 1970's. Béatrice Uria-Monzon, a
leading French exponent of the role for many years, is a mature, somewhat jaded <strong>Carmen</strong> who
has seen it all but still throws herself into her work. She is a rather hard-boiled <strong>Carmen</strong>, but not
incapable of feeling, in the powerful final scene she clearly is moved by José’s pain, but cannot
help him. Roberto Alagna is Don José. His interpretation is not radically different from that in
the MET production, but it is skillfully adjusted to fit into this grim, barren world. The final
scene is full of compelling moments and physical violence and when José reacts to the return of
his ring by slashing <strong>Carmen</strong>’s throat, she staggers away as if she can’t grasp what has happened,
and as she slumps to the ground, José crosses himself and appeals to heaven before he kneels by
her side, grasps her bloody hand and seems to try to get her to stand up, an unforgettable final
image. Throughout the production character relationships are tellingly defined. When Micaela
(Marina Poplavskaya) arrives in Act One, José is clearly not happy to have her bring another
nagging message from his mother and he is decidedly displeased when Micaela delivers the kiss
passionately on the lips, he pulls away in obvious disgust. (Micaela is young and provocatively
dressed and not bashful about her feelings for Jose.) As Escamillo, Erwin Schrott sings rather
roughly but is vivid as a swaggering, gangster-like Escamillo who looks like he stepped out of a
production of Guys and Dolls, as do Dancairo and Remendado. Although the dialogue version is
used, the text is cut to a minimum, but enough is present to maintain continuity. The number of
characters is also cut to a minimum: the men who come to ogle the girls in Act One are all
soldiers, including those who just marched off in the changing of the guard, and in Act Two only
the soloists are present at Lillas Pastia’s automobile hideaway. Perhaps the most disturbing
element is the character of a child who seems to be an apprentice hooker to <strong>Carmen</strong> and her
friends, she is clearly getting on-the job training. Marc Piollet conducts very effectively,
bringing out the strong contrasts in the music in support of the strong imagery onstage.

Definitely an R-rated production, but it surely recaptures the shock value, which <strong>Carmen</strong> had
when it was first produced in 1875.
The Runners-Up--Dialogue Versions
Pappano: Antonacci, Kaufmann, D=Arcangelo, Ansellem (Zambello)(Royal opera,
London), 2006)(Decca)(Oeser edition with abridged dialogue)
A powerful production in every way. Jonas Kaufmann is a memorable Don José, singing
with a unique combination of power and sensitivity, and creating a remarkably detailed portrait
of the gradual disintegration of a personality. His José begins as an uptight, somewhat prissy
neatness freak, showing only brief flashes of the ungovernable temper that proves to be his
undoing. By the end of the opera he is a powder keg, desperately trying to keep himself under
control and frightening in his rigidly controlled, soft pleading with <strong>Carmen</strong>. When the dam
finally breaks it produces the most violently physical confrontation scene imaginable, with
Antonacci, a powerful actress, matching him every step of the way. Her <strong>Carmen</strong> is very much a
soprano gypsy, not a mezzo, and her sensual spell is created more through nuance and subtle
coloration of the text than through sheer vocal power. Physically she is totally convincing as a
magnet for men without ever playing “seductive,”when she sets out to get José no holds are
barred and she clearly knows exactly what she is doing at all times. Norah Ansellem’s Micaela
is clearly a country girl out of her element in the city but tough enough to survive, while
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo is a handsomely swaggering Escamillo, though, like many basses, he
struggles a bit with the high tessitura of the Toreador Song. Tanya McCallin’s sets are stark,
mainly consisting of towering wall units in rust tones that are reconfigured for each act. Their
starkness puts the focus solidly on the people of the drama whom she has dressed in costumes
that really look like lived-in clothing. Within this framework director Francesca Zambello
creates a world of believable human beings doing believable things that add up to a clear and
dramatic telling of the story. All of these elements are given vivid musical life by Antonio
Pappano’s commanding and nuanced musical direction. Sound and picture are excellent without
ostentation.
Kleiber: Obraztsova, Domingo, Mazurok, Buchanon (Zeffirelli)(Vienna,
1978)(TDK)(Dialog version, abridged dialogue)
One of the few video records of the elusive conductor, Carlos Kleiber in the opera house,
and a performance that shows just how justified his legendary reputation was. From the first
downbeat the performance is electrifying, with no letup until the final chords, and the playing is
as notable for its delicacy and intimate moments as it is for its dramatic outbursts. Fortunately
the stage production by Franco Zeffirelli is close to the same league, making for a memorable
realization of Bizet’s great opera. The production was described as involving “500 co-workers
and eight horses,” but for all its spectacle, it is the work of a master director at his best. The
crowd scenes fill the stage within Zeffirelli’s atmospheric settings but the human drama is never
shortchanged. Elena Obraztsova is not a very French <strong>Carmen</strong> but she brings an earthy
physicality to her Gypsy version and sings with wide-ranging power and considerable finesse.
Placido Domingo in his early prime sings thrillingly as Jose and acts the role very well, while
Isobel Buchanon is a warmly lyrical and convincing Micaela. Yuri Mazurok’s vibrant baritone
is initially impressive for Escamillo, but his unrelenting loudness and rather aloof personality
soon grow tiresome. The minor roles are well taken, and under the strong guiding hands of

Zeffirelli and Kleiber, this is a memorable <strong>Carmen</strong>. The picture and sound are quite good for the
period, although Acts 2 and 3 are a bit dark and the sound restoration sometimes puts some
unnatural resonance around the voices. Zeffirelli himself directed the television production and
chose to show the conductor from time to time, a practice that I usually find an intrusion on the
stage action, but there is no denying that seeing Kleiber at work is exciting in itself.
The Runners-Up--Recitative Version
Nézet-Séguin: Garana, Alagna, Frittoli, Tahu Rhodes (Eyre)(Metropolitan Opera,
2010)(DG) (Recit version)
Richard Eyre’s new staging of <strong>Carmen</strong> at the MET is a handsome, well-sung, solidly
traditional production of the recitative version, with minor additions from the Fritz Oeser critical
edition. Elina Garana is a stunningly beautiful, warm-voiced <strong>Carmen</strong> whose magnetic
attraction for men is totally believable, while Roberto Alagna, in one of his best roles, is
handsome and quite sympathetic as the susceptible Don Jose. Barbara Frittoli looks mature for a
17-year old, but is convincing as a stronger than usual Micaela and sings splendidly. Teddy
Tahu Rhodes, who stepped in with three hours notice as Escamillo, he was the cover, is a
youthfully appealing Escamillo, though he looks too nice to be making his living slaughtering
tormented bulls. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts stylishly and has good rapport with the
singers. Eyre’s staging picks up a few ideas from recent European productions such as the
underground cigar factory for the women and the downstage placement of a barred enclosure for
the soldiers, and he gives the singers a number of intelligent pieces of stage business for
motivation. The impressive rotating set by Rob Howell provides fine playing spaces and his
costumes are extremely beautiful. The elegant costumes, however, are a clue to the main
limitation of the entire production, which is its squeaky-clean, not a wrinkle showing approach to
the story and the characters. The grim realism of the plot and the darker side of the characters,
which so shocked the original audience in 1875 are downplayed and only the fairly touchy-feely
playing of the sexual aspect of the story catches any of the earthy aspect of the opera.
“Traditional” productions of the opera today generally take this approach and within this
limitation, Eyre and his fine cast offer a very enjoyable production. The chemistry between
Garana and Alagna is strong and their final scene is played with convincing physical violence,
though the spectacular shift to the interior of the bullring and a tableau of Escamillo standing
over the dead bull during the final chords upstages the emotional power of <strong>Carmen</strong>’s death and
Jose’s anguish as a final image.
Recommended, with reservations--Dialogue Versions
Mehta: Ewing, Lima, Vaduva, Quilico (Espert)(Royal Opera, London, 1991)(Image
Entertainment)(Dialogue version, some Oeser additions)
Musically well-sung and conducted production, which restores some of the recently
discovered material from the Fritz Oeser edition, mainly in the Act One fight scene. The
dialogue is trimmed to a minimum. Espert brings some nice detail to the Act One crowd scene,
but much of her staging is static and unimaginative and the production lacks any cohesive overall
vision. Gerardo Vera’s settings are towering backgrounds to a rather empty stage space which
lacks atmosphere or dramatic focus. Ewing brings her typical vocal nuance and striking
presence to the title role, but her character is less focused than in the Glyndebourne production
six years earlier and she is rather left adrift by the director with her talents (dancing, playing

castanets, physicality) underutilized. Luis Lima takes a while to warm up but sings very well
from Act 2 on. His good acting skills are also underutilized by the director, and the grotesque
brutality of the final murder (with a convenient meat hook) takes to focus away from the human
tragedy. Gino Quilico looks great and sings well as the toreador, but hardly seems tough enough
to make his living killing bulls. Leontina Vaduva is a highly sympathetic Micaela and sings with
warm tone and touching expressiveness. Zubin Mehta brings plenty of energy and discipline to
the score, but overall the production lacks cohesiveness and never catches fire.
Lombard: Domashenko, Berti, Dashuk, Aceto (Zeffirelli)(Verona Arena, 2003)(Arthaus,
TDK) (Dialogue version)
The popularity of <strong>Carmen</strong> and the outdoor settings of three of its four acts lend
themselves to large-scale productions, either outdoors or in non-traditional indoor spaces. The
vast spaces of the ancient Roman Arena of Verona make a it a no-brainer for production there,
and for this 2003 staging the modern master of operatic spectacle, Franco Zeffirelli, was engaged
as stage director. The result is one of the best Verona stagings I have seen and one of the most
successful jobs of capturing at least some of its impact for the home screen. Zeffirelli’s set
designs (erroneously credited to a technical director on my TDK packaging) fill the stage space
with a wonderful vista of city buildings surrounding a city square in Seville. The mountains in
the background become the dominant feature in Act Three. Zeffirelli even surmounts the lack of
a front curtain by providing handsome fabric panels on poles which are elegantly carried on and
off by stage hands, allowing for opening tableaux to be revealed as required by the opera. Most
importantly, Zeffirelli never lets the crowd activity onstage overshadow the core drama, and his
fine singers play out the story clearly and forcefully. Marina Domashenko, early in her career,
was already a major <strong>Carmen</strong>. Her rich, focused and powerful voice combine with a vivid stage
presence, beauty, and expressive movement skills, including dancing and playing the castanets,
to create a memorably human figure. Marco Berti is not quite in her class as an actor but he is
solid and sings with powerful tone and in much better French than many Italian tenors. Maya
Dashuk, like Domashenko a Russian, offers vibrant singing as Micaela as well as striking
attractiveness. Raymond Aceto is a rather colorless Escamillo, though he sings competently.
Alain Lombard provides strong support from the pit and the Spanish dancers provide plenty of
color without overshadowing the human drama. The dialogue version is used, trimmed to a
minimum. Inevitably the full impact of a production on this scale can only be hinted at on the
small screen, but done with this level of skill it is still a very enjoyable viewing experience with
considerable dramatic impact in the major scenes.
Enjoyable elements, major reservations--Recitative Versions
Delacote: Ewing, Trussel, Gauci, Fondary (Pimlott)(Earls Court, London, 1989)(Image
Entertainment)(Recit version)
This spectacular production featuring some 300 performers was staged in the round in the
London’s huge indoor arena, Earls Court. The central playing area was a seemingly dirt-floored
circle suggesting a bullring, surrounded by a moving boardwalk circle. In the central portion of
the ring was a large hinged trapdoor, which could pivot down forming a ramp to a lower level
entrance. Large ramps also provided access to the playing area from several sides. Returning to
this video after ten years, I find it much less satisfying than I did in 2002. While the production
may have been an exciting theatrical experience live, it makes for a problematic viewing
experience on DVD. Technical problems abound: voices fade in and out for no visual reason,
plenty of background clumps and crackles are audible, and camera shots frequently have
unwanted heads or pillars intruding on the image. It must have been a nightmare to shoot.
Despite the presence of a fine <strong>Carmen</strong> in Maria Ewing and solid supporting singers, the
performance itself leaves a lot to be desired. Coordination of soloists, chorus and orchestra is
frequently ragged, despite multiple monitors showing the conductor, the distances involved make

staying together very difficult, and it shows. In addition, Steven Pimlott’s staging is of necessity
geared to an audience sitting all around the arena which is handled with a lot of restless
movement in the background of the central scenes and playing relatively intimate conversations
from opposite sides of the arena, when Zuniga teases Jose about his girl friend, they are at least
40 feet apart in an otherwise deserted space. Close-ups allow at least some of Ewing’s detailed
and disciplined interpretation to register and the final confrontation with Jose builds to a strong
climax, but much of the time the cameras struggle unsuccessfully to follow the action and it is
impossible for the viewer to get any sense of place or relationships. Finally, in Act Three, the
scene is so dark that it is impossible to see what is going on and at times the cameras seem to
have trouble locating the principals. Ewing’s <strong>Carmen</strong> can be seen to much better advantage in
Peter Hall’s Glyndebourne production.
Maerzendorfer: Krasteva, Antonenko, Elmgren, Holecek (De Bosio)(St. Margarethen,
2005)(Dialogue/Oeser version)(Euroarts)
Croci: Walewska, Malagnini, Sonntag, Senator (DeBosio)(St. Margarethen,
1998)(Am@deo) (Recit versionBseverely abridged, runs 80 minutes)(Good commentary by
Prawy)
The St. Margarethen Opera Festival takes place in an ancient Roman quarry in Austria on
what is billed as the largest outdoor stage in Europe. In its early years the festival offered
massive but rather crude productions, but by the tenth season when this revival of the 1998
staging of <strong>Carmen</strong> was offered, production standards had improved immensely the productions
were offering an engagingly spectacular experience to their large audiences. Inevitably a
production on this scale, featuring hundreds of performers, a dozen or more horses, and a large
display of life-sized facades of famous buildings in Seville is best viewed live and is difficult to
capture for the home screen. In addition, the picture quality of this live video is not up to today’s
standards, rather mushy and garish in color. The cameras provide close-ups of the singers as
much as possible, but whenever they pull back to catch the spectacle, individual action is totally
lost in the crowd. (The close-ups also make the heavy makeup used by the women in that large
outdoor space appear rather grotesque.) That said, it is clear that the production had a lot to
offer. Bulgarian mezzo Nadia Krasteva is a first-rate <strong>Carmen</strong>, with a fine voice, an attractive
appearance, and strong movement skills. She joins the dancers convincingly in the Gypsy song
and even leaps on a horse and rides off when she escapes from arrest in Act One. A fine actress,
she creates a richly drawn protagonist. Her Don José, Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko cuts
an imposing figure on stage and although he is not a polished actor he avoids overacting and lets
his strong presence work for him, along with the power of his voice which has more recently
given him success as Otello. Sebastian Holecek is a rather jolly and effective Escamillo, while
Åsa Elmgren sings respectably but tends to overact as Micaela. Crowd scenes, dance scenes and
spectacle in general are impressively handled and the parade before the bullfight is highly
colorful and plausible. The orchestra is located in a kind of pavilion stage left and conductor
Ernst Maerzendorfer keeps everything together and flowing remarkably well. The abridged
dialogue is used with many of the musical additions from the Fritz Oeser edition.
WARNING: The second video listed above is a much abridged video of the original 1998
version of this production which is widely available in the USA. The score is chopped in half
and the cast is substantially inferior to the 2005 production. AVOID!
Of Historical Interest (Sung in Italian)--Recitative Version
Sanzogno: Amparan, Corelli, Colzani, Ribetti (Enriquez)(RAI Milan, 1956)(Hardy)(In
Italian) (B&W)

This kinescope copy of a live 1956 studio performance preserves one of the earliest
efforts in Italy at producing opera for television. Although the black and white picture and the
mono sound quality are good for the period, the production shares the technical limitations
common to such productions, particularly the artificiality of singers lip-synching to their own
pre-recorded soundtrack. The singers here are variable in the accuracy of their synchronization
and the lack of any environmental sound (footsteps, physical activity, etc.) is inevitably
unnatural. The performance also reflects common practice in Italy at that time in being sung in
Italian. Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy here. Within the limited confines of the studio
space the settings combined with close-up camera work create an effective illusion of the
locations and Franco Enriquez direction is straightforward and imaginative in creating a strongly
realistic performance. Musically the performance is very fine and it is well-acted. Texas-born
Belen Amparan is a forceful, sensuous (but not “sexy”) <strong>Carmen</strong>, singing with warm, evenly
produced tone and plenty of temperament. The role of Don José was new to Franco Corelli at
this early point in his career and in addition to his characteristically powerful singing he is more
strongly involved as an actor, tracing his character’s gradual descent into murderous madness, a
bit over the top in the final scene but certainly exciting. The vocal excesses of his later
recordings of the role are largely absent here. Anselmo Colzani’s macho Escamillo is splendidly
sung, and Elda Ribetti is a touching Micaela. An enjoyable memento of some fine artists who,
other than Corelli, are too little remembered today.
Offshoots and Byways
AUR-CARMEN@
<strong>Carmen</strong> in South Africa
Hazlewood: Malefane, Tshoni, Bkou, Sidloyi (Dornford-May)(DDK Theatre Company,
2004)(Adapted by Dornford-May, Kedama, Malefane)(Sung in Xhosa)(Film)
The South African theatre company DDK has pioneered productions of operatic
productions by South African artists. This film evolved from their production of Bizet’s opera
but adapts the story and score to a contemporary setting in the township Khayelitsha and
translates the text into Xhosa. The film is generally naturalistic, the music is abridged, and the
plot freely revised to fit the South African setting. While some musical portions are sung and
played “straight,” such as the José-Micaela duet and much of the final scene, other sections are
treated more as a background score, and naturalistic environmental sound is usually present.
Clearly it is not a production of Bizet’s opera, but as a unique take on a familiar story and as a
film it is a strong piece of work. The revisions in the plot are imaginative, instead of a
bullfighter, the Escamillo figure is a rising South African baritone who is seen briefly on
television singing the Toreador song, while the final act takes place at a concert in which he is
the star attraction. He does get to kill a bull, but it is for a feast honoring a revered elder. The
film draws heavily on the sense of community in the township and provides a rich look at an
aspect of South African life rarely seen by foreigners. Well worth seeing.
Silent(!) Films Based on <strong>Carmen</strong>
Finally, a note on videos of related interest that no lover of <strong>Carmen</strong> should miss. In 1915
the glamorous star soprano of the Metropolitan Opera, Geraldine Farrar, filmed a silent version
of <strong>Carmen</strong>, directed by none other than Cecil B. DeMille. The silent film was accompanied by a
very effective arrangement of Bizet’s music, which has been reconstructed as the soundtrack for
some restored versions of the film. The script owes as much to Prosper Mérimée’s original
novella as to the opera and Farrar’s beauty and athletic acting make it well worth seeing. The
DVD version on Image entertainment is well done and has the advantage of including Charlie
Chaplin’s Burlesque on <strong>Carmen</strong>, a two-reel parody of DeMille’s film which was released just
months after the original. Chaplin as the soldier “Darn Hosiery” is not to be missed. However

the VAI edition of DeMille’s film offers superior image and sound quality and includes a bonus
of Farrar singing two scenes from the opera accompanied by a montage of images from the film.
Chaplin’s parody is also available in Volume 3 of his early Essanay films (Image
Entertainment).
NOTE: Some DVD editions of Chaplin’s film offer the four-reel version, which the
Essanay company concocted after Chaplin moved to another studio. It was padded with new
material featuring comedian Snub Pollard plus some footage Chaplin had discarded. (This
version literally made Chaplin ill and he successfully sued Essanay over it.) The reconstructed
original version is included in the editions mentioned above. Editions of the four-reel version are
based on inferior early prints; they are usually of poor quality and not recommended.
Not Recommended--Dialogue Versions
Maazel: Migenes, Domingo, Raimondi, Esham (Francesco Rosi film)(Paris/Spain, 1982/84)
(Olive Films)
This film has been enthusiastically received by film critics and non-operagoers so mine is
a minority report. Visually it is a strikingly beautiful travelogue of locations in Spain and the
musical component, recorded earlier in Paris, is also attractive, though you wouldn’t know it
from viewing the film, where it is overlaid with loud environmental sounds throughout. (To hear
the music properly it is necessary to go to the CD version.) As a presentation of Bizet’s opera,
however, it is seriously flawed. Director Francesco Rosi uses Bizet’s score most of the time as if
it were background music for a film and makes little effort to motivate all that singing, it is
merely accompaniment for spectacular landscape and crowd scenes. On the few occasions when
no large crowd is present he seems to be lost, for duets and arias he simply places the singers in a
static tableau and films it with minimal camera movement, or occasionally has the singers walk
away from the camera so he can show his colorful village scenes. Several times there are major
discrepancies between what the music and text are implying and what Rosi shows on screen. For
example, at the end of Act II, Bizet’s score and the dramatic context make it clear that the
smugglers with Jose are heading off to smuggle. Rosi, however, clears the tavern and shows us
three couples going to bed, with a final shot of Zuniga tied to a chair. Only Julia Migenes, a
vivid actress and dancer, brings her character to life. The role would probably be to low and too
heavy for her in an opera house, but in the recording she sings with plenty of color and vivid
projection of the text. The remaining principals, Plàcido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi and Faith
Esham sing well, Domingo very well, but are rather stiff and ineffective on screen. The edition
of the score restores some of the musical material from Fritz Oeser’s critical edition, but the
spoken dialogue is reduced to a minimum. Not recommended.
Levine: Baltsa, Carreras, Mitchell, Ramey (Mills)(MET, 1987)(DG)
There is much to enjoy in this live MET performance, particularly the brilliant work of
the orchestra and chorus under James Levine’s warmly dramatic direction. The sets and
costumes by John Bury are handsome without being gaudy. The production was originally
staged by Peter Hall, but this revival was restaged by Paul Mills, and Hall is not credited at all.
The crowd scenes are well-handled with plenty of realistic detail. Unfortunately, the production
is sabotaged by its leading singers, Agnes Baltsa as <strong>Carmen</strong> and José Carreras as Don José.
Baltsa is an energetically active <strong>Carmen</strong> and sings with ringing tone, but she is totally lacking in
charm or sex appeal, most of the time her <strong>Carmen</strong> seems angry and hostile and it’s hard to
imagine men flocking too her, or that she cares. Carreras was still in good voice at this time but
the way he was constantly stretching his lyric voice beyond its natural limits did not bode well
for its future. As an actor he is mechanical, stiff, and totally lacking in spontaneity, every
movement and gesture, most which are stock arm waving, seems calculated and he rarely looks
at his partners on stage, singing much of the time with his eyes closed. Leona Mitchell is a

mature but warm-voiced Micaela, but since her scenes are mainly with Carreras, she is playing in
a dramatic vacuum. Only Samuel Ramey, in ringing voice as Escamillo, manages to bring some
dramatic life to the proceedings, perhaps because he plays a character who is totally selfsufficient.
Not recommended.
Weikert: Krasteva, Nikolov, Rahdjian, Mijailovic (Broca/van Holland)(Companions
Opera, 2006)(Companions Opera Alimited edition@)(Dialogue version, minimal dialogue)
Companions Opera is an Amsterdam-based organization which creates large-scale opera
productions in huge arenas in various European cities. Soloists are drawn mainly from Eastern
Europe and the orchestra, chorus, and extras are recruited locally. (The chorus sings from the
orchestra enclosure while non-singing extras play the onstage action.) This DVD of <strong>Carmen</strong> was
recorded in the 12,000 seat Color Live Arena in Hamburg, a facility used mainly for handball,
ice hockey and pop concerts. The production is mainly geared to spectacle, though it is handled
relatively tastefully and the musical standards are quite good. As a live experience the
production must have been enjoyable, but as a home video it is limited, especially as it lacks
subtitles. Dramatic plausibility is often sacrificed to scale. The acting “chorus” makes no
attempt to pretend to be singing, which would be less of a problem at the live audience distances
involved but is rather ghostly when seen through camera close-ups. Scenes involving two
characters (José-Micaela duet, final scene) are played with the singers placed far apart, and the
acting style is of necessity broad. Some of the visual effects are compelling, especially the
carpet of red blossoms on the arena floor created by the celebrating crowd before the bullfight,
which creates a blood-red background for the final, fatal confrontation of <strong>Carmen</strong> and Don José.
Nadia Krasteva, who can also be seen in the St. Margarethen production, is an experienced and
effective <strong>Carmen</strong> and the other principals are quite competent, but the staging inadequacies
revealed by the cameras and the lack of subtitles make the DVD a non-contender. Not
recommended.
Maschio: Bonfitto, Taruntsov, Dalla Benetta, Altomare (Nocetti)(Teatro Coccia,
2008)(Kicco Classic)(Dialogue version, minimal dialogue)
While some operatic issues from the independent label Kicco Classics feature fairly
prominent artists and decent productions, it is hard to understand why this provincial (in the
worst sense of the word) performance would be released, and it is striking that it is not even
listed in Kicco’s own online catalogue! The staging is barely on the level of a poor community
theatre, the musical execution is shaky at times, and the scenery and costumes look like the sort
of thing that used to be the norm for amateur theatre musicals, garish, ugly and even comical, as
in the cigar factory with walls made of giant cigars! Angela Bonfitto looks good (in a spotless
snowy white dress!), but her acting is a twitchy series of stock poses, while the rest of the cast is
simply at sea in a stand-and-sing staging in a space which is too small even for these reduced
forces. A further blemish is the decision by stage and video director Giovanna Nocetti to try to
create an illusion of stage action by repeatedly superimposing slow motion versions of the stage
action over the real time action, which reduces the real time imagery to the bottom of the screen
where it is covered by the subtitles! Strongly not recommended!

Not recommended--Recitative Versions
Karajan: Bumbry, Vickers, Diaz, Freni (von Karajan)(Studio filming, based on Salzburg
Production, 1967)(DG) (Recit version)
This is a studio recording lip-synched to a pre-recorded soundtrack, based on the
Salzburg Festival production of previous summer. Despite the starry names associated with it,
this production suffers from the artificiality of the lip-synched filming and from von Karajan’s
limitations as a stage director. Musically the soundtrack is polished to a glossy shine, but after
the exciting orchestral introductions the orchestra recedes to the background and von Karajan
goes into his slow-motion impressionistic mode, which robs the opera of much of its vitality.
The soloists lip-sync very accurately but seem to be so intent on matching their soundtrack that
their acting seems stiff and uninvolved. Jon Vickers, normally a powerhouse on stage, seems
neutralized by the restrictions of the filming, and even Mirella Freni lacks her usual spontaneity
and passion, though she does manage to inject some life into her aria. Grace Bumbry is in good
voice but is physically stiff and uncomfortable as <strong>Carmen</strong>, as is Justino Diaz as Escamillo. Von
Karajan’s staging in this early attempt at making an opera film is no help. He seems to see the
film as a series of carefully posed static tableaus that are set up mechanically and then shown in a
variety of close-ups. The action lacks any sense of continuity of life and of motivation, and,
along with his slick, bloodless approach to the music drains any sense of human drama from the
story. Teo Otto’s sets are an odd mixture of realistic structures and artificial backdrops, while
Georges Wakhevitch costumes are conventional and rather unflattering, especially to Grace
Bumbry. Throughout the opera everything looks squeaky clean and polished, including heavily
lacquered hairdos (never a hair out of place) and eyeshadow and artificial eyelashes for the
women, a very dated and unrealistic 60's look. Not recommended.
Montarano: Surguladze, Do, Lungu, Alberghini (Ferretti)(Sferisterio Opera Festival,
2008)(Dynamic)(Recit version)
The Arena Sferisterio is a striking open-air performance space holding 3500-4000
spectators in stadium seating and boxes. Its stage is an open platform some 240 feet wide and
quite deep. In this production of <strong>Carmen</strong>, staged by film and stage designer Dante Ferretti, the
huge space allows some scenes to be staged very effectively, particularly the changing of the
guard and the children’s march in Act One. Unfortunately, first-time opera director Ferretti’s
inexperience leaves most of the rest of the opera at loose ends. While the use of 20 th century
costumes could certainly be effective, the choice here (costume designer was Pierluigi Pizzi) to
dress the women, including the factory workers and smugglers, in spotlessly clean and elegant
slips and dresses with nicely styled hair makes nonsense of the story. In the tavern scene, a
rather posh place with a classy clientele, <strong>Carmen</strong>, Frasquita and Mércèdes are wearing designer
evening gowns, and even on the smuggling expedition in Act Three they are in elegant skirts and
hosiery, while negotiating dangerous mountain pathways! For the dramatic interaction the
principals are pretty much on their own, which is a particular problem for Nina Surguladze in the
title role. She is extremely beautiful and has a fine, fresh, focused voice, but seems embarrassed
at having to act the temptress and doesn’t know what to do with her hands. In addition, her
French is extremely poor. Her Don José, Philippe Do, is a good actor and tries his best in the
circumstances, but the role is too heavy for his attractive light lyric tenor. The production overall
is efficiently executed, dramatically bland, and simply dull. Surguladze seems young and is
certainly very talented, but she is out of her depth as <strong>Carmen</strong>. Not recommended.