Bizet Carmen opera to libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Directed 2010 by Richard Eyre at the Met. Stars Elīna Garanča (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don José), Barbara Frittoli (Micaëla), Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Escamillo), Elizabeth Caballero (Frasquita), Sandra Piques Eddy (Mercédès), Trevor Scheunemann (Moralès), Keith Miller (Zuniga), Earle Patriarco (Le Dancaïre), Keith Jameson (Le Remendado), Maria Kowroski (dancer), and Martin Harvey (dancer). Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master Donald Palumbo), a production Stage Band (Conductor Jeffrey Goldberg), and the Children's Chorus (Director Anthony Piccolo). Set and costume design by Rob Howell; lighting design by Peter Mumford; choreography by Christopher Wheeldon; associate costume design by Irene Bohan; musical preparation by Joan Dornemann, Jane Klaviter, Linda Hall, Pierre Vallet, and Jonathan Kelly; fight direction by Nigel Poulton; assistant stage direction by Jonathan Loy, Paula Williams, and Tomer Zvulun; dramaturgy by Paul Cremo. Directed for TV by Gary Halvorson; Music Producer was Jay David Saks; Supervising Producers were Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park; Producers were Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik. Sung in French. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
I probably really don’t need to show screenshots explaining the Carmen plot; you know the story already. But in 2010, Gary Halvorson had 15 cameramen working on this video, which was shown in movie theaters all over the world. The result is almost unbelievable good picture quality, color handling, and video content. In 2012 the Met and DG released this in Blu-ray form complete with behind-the-scenes shots of a small army of stage hands and chatter with the stars and hostess Renée Fleming. Now it’s August 2020, and the disc looks as good as ever. So I can’t resist showing you a bunch of images from this show.
It’s lunchtime and the girls from the cigarette factory fill the neighborhood plaza in Seville. The new Lieutenant Zuniga (Keith Miller) is among the many men looking for friendship. Director Eyre puts a lot of emphasis on Zuniga’s steady pursuit of Carmen and the many disappointments she dishes up for him. The time has been brought forward to, say, the Great Depression in Spain:
All the men want to see Carmen (Elīna Garanča), who is also always looking love. She has an orange in her cleavage that she will peel and stuff in Zuniga’s mouth to shut him up:
The clever Gypsie can handle several men simultaneously. Here she pretends to please the Lieutenant while flirting with the new corporal Don José (Roberto Alagna):
Don José reads a letter from his mother, who wants him to marry Micaëla, a foundling girl raised by his mom along with Don José. Micaëla has, of course, dreamed of this since she was little—you will meet Micaëla later in these screenshots. Note there are few full-stage, full-body shots in this video. The cameras get near the actors like in a movie. But all this is done while a huge audience watches this live. It’s an amazing feat of planning and execution.
Carmen got arrested after a girl fight, and Don José is in charge of taking her to the jail. Carmen has already been working on Don José, but now she must seduce him fast so he will help her escape:
Carmen says she’s in love:
Don José helps Carmen escape, and he winds up himself in prison for 2 months. Now he’s out and we are at Carmen’s favorite tavern where the Gypsies meet to party and plan their next smuggling operation. I couldn’t resist showing the striking close up below. Director Eyre does not, however, stage a huge Gypsie dance number with tons of provocative girls—instead Garanča does a table dance for the Army officers who are getting drunk.
Zuniga haunts the tavern also in pursuit of Carmen. Now Zuninga must watch Carmen start another romance with Escamilo (Teddy Tahu Rhodes), the famous bullfighter! In this version, Escamilo doesn’t arrive on a horse in a torchlight parade. He actually looks more like a politician than an athlete when singing his famous Toreador song. In fact, Teddy was hired for this as an emergency replacement on the morning of the day this was shot, so the simpler the better:
Carmen is really tired of making cigarettes. The Gypsy Kings Le Remendado (Keith Jameson) and Le Dancaïre (Earl Patriarco) make her a proposition to do some smuggling in the Gibraltar Mountains, but she turns them down. Don José wants an honest life in the Army, and she doesn’t want to leave him:
Suddenly the Lieutenant returns to the tavern and makes his move:
Enraged, Don José assaults Zuninga. Now Don José has no choice: He must join Carmen in a new life as a smuggler:
Now we are in the Gypsy hideout in the mountains. Carmen’s best friends, Mercédès (Sandra Piques Eddy) and Frasquita (Elizabeth Caballero) tell their own fortunes with cards:
Carmen tells her fortune also and learns that she will die young:
Micaëla (Barbara Frittoli), terrified but brave, finds Don José in the Gypsies’ wild camp. She reports that Don José’s mother is dying. Micaëla must come across as young, innocent, miserably intimidated, and crushed by events. Frittoli, mature and solid, sings well and gets warm applause from the live audience—but I think she is a bit miscast in the role of the pitiful peasant girl;
Don José abandons Carmen and returns to his village, disgraced and a fugitive, to see his mother. This suits Carmen as she now loves the Escamillo and starts a brilliant new life with him. And now it’s time for the biggest bullfight of the season in Seville, which begins, of course, with a parade:
Escamillo kneels to be blessed by the Priest with Carmen looking on like royalty:
Don José has slipped into town. Frasquita and Mercédès spot him in the crowd and warn Carmen. But Carmen wants to get rid of him for good. As the bullfight begins, she waits outside to confront Don José:
Carmen will stick to her creed:
Carmen’s plan works out badly:
Garanča is maybe the prettiest Carmen ever. Her singing is fabulous, she’s a great actress, and she can also dance a bit. Her brilliance wipes out Alagna. He lost weight and got in shape for this. But I can't see the sex appeal to make this Carmen fall in love with him at first sight. (I think Alagna matches up much better with Béatrice Uria-Monzon in the Calixto Bieito version at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.) Teddy Tahu Rhodes is great as Escamillo, especially in view of the fact that he was an emergency hire. Barbara Frittoli sings Micaëla well, but she doesn't make me tear up like Norah Amsellem in the ROH 2006 version. The orchestra is fine as conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The sound quality is also excellent. Disc authorship is solid, and there is a nice and helpful keep-case booklet.
The Met, of course, always tells the story well with astute personal directing. My biggest criticism of this production would be a certain drabness in set and costume design. The sets depict mostly ruins of buildings and a fallen masonry wall—everything looks depleted and threadbare. I missed the the elaborate Gypsie dancing show, the toreador on horseback, and the elaborate parade to the bullring. Maybe there was a problem with the budget that held down on sizzle with the steak. With a traditional Carmen, I want to see local color, not social realism.
Now to a grade. This is a very enjoyable and well-done product; it well deserves an A. I still prefer the ROH version with all its pomp and color. But if you have any particular interest in this title, let this be your first choice.
Here are 2 fine YT clips from the Met:
OR
