Carmen's Legacy

By Adam Goldstein
goldstea@mscd.edu

Time is the ultimate sanitizer. Age can tame the risqu‚, rendering the most scandalous piece of art a piece of family entertainment.

In 1875, when Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" first premiered at the Opera Comique in Paris, the sexual undertones and steamy themes inspired an indignant uproar among critics and music lovers. The venue was known for family entertainment, and for many, the tale of the Spanish temptress and her hapless lover crossed the line between tasteful drama and lewd exhibition. The very setting of Seville suggested its own bawdy connotations. The city was well known in the 19th century for its cigarette factories, where the female workers toiled topless.

The current production of "Carmen" at the newly opened Ellie Caulkins Opera House shows how much a century can change popular mores. Now a beloved staple of the operatic genre, "Carmen" has changed from a tabooed tale to a piece of haute culture.

Despite this transformation, director James Robinson has assembled a surprisingly effective recreation of the sultry mood of Bizet's original vision. The production includes performances by Denyce Graves and Beth Clayton as Carmen. Graves, an internationally accomplished opera star, opened the production on Nov. 3 and will perform on closing night, Nov. 13.

In recreating the steamy ambience of Seville and its savage countryside, set designer Allen Moyer relies on sets that steadily digress in their complexity. In the first act, when Don Jos‚, the doomed Spanish dragoon, first falls for Carmen, the gypsy temptress, the structures of Seville are lavishly portrayed in brightly painted wooden backdrops. As their love sours and Don Jos‚'s passion transforms into consuming jealousy, the stage becomes stark, with a dim lighting scheme by designer Mimi Jordan Sherin that eerily highlights the few scattered set pieces.

By the time Don Jos‚'s rage and jealousy reaches its fevered pitch and Carmen meets her tragic end, the stage is empty of excess, with only ghoulish and gaping recesses in the background that seem to speak of tragedy and loss.

This masterful use of set design serves as a rich backdrop for the skill of the performers and their moving musical translation of Bizet's score. Graves faithfully fills the musical role of the archetypal temptress. One of the most impressive elements of the score is Bizet's use of different types of music for characterization. Graves' performance of the Haberna, perhaps the most celebrated piece from "Carmen" and from opera as an art form, not only establishes the character, but the performer. The slippery and unpredictable melody lines are chromatically uncomfortable for Western ears, and suggest seduction in their very structure.

Graves slides through these parts with a degree of expertise and improvisation that reveal an intimate knowledge of the character.

Similarly, soprano Pamela Armstrong's performance as Mic„ela, the innocent country girl who seeks to redeem the ill-fated Don Jos‚, bespeaks a true understanding of her character.

In her duet with Don Jos‚ and in her solo, as she tries to find inner strength and courage alone in the mountains, Armstrong's emphasis portrays a character diametrically opposed to her gypsy counterpart. Where Carmen's melodies are at odds with the Western musical conventions, Mic„ela's songs fit snugly into diatonic conventions, lending the words a degree of familiarity and sympathy. The sheer beauty and grace of her solos do the score's integrity complete justice.

As Don Jos‚, Australian tenor Julian Gavin portrays an almost disturbing amount of rage and jealousy. The mental descent of his character drives the drama in many ways: musically, dramatically and thematically.

Carmen may lend the opera its title, but Don Jos‚ gives it its conflict and its clashes. Gavin does a fine job in giving his character's moral struggle credence and believability.

Overall, Robinson has paid Bizet a fine tribute with his careful and nuanced production. Over 100 years after its scandalous debut, "Carmen" still packs a punch.

The most effecting elements are not in its sexual risks. They are not in Carmen's bared legs or seductive lines. The sheer beauty of the opera transcends such petty considerations. It speaks to a much deeper, primal side of our experience as human beings: namely, our helplessness in the face of our passions.