Met’s Carmen Telecast Matches Radio’s Vocal Performances

Now that interviews with the singers have become an important intermission feature of the Met’s HD Telecasts, the viewing audience gets to meet the artists as they come off stage right after their performances. At the Encore Telecast of Carmen on February 3rd, it happened to be after Act Two, which stood out not only for the heated drama mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca and tenor Roberto Alagna created as the doomed lovers, but for Alagna’s botched high note taken piano instead of forte as written at the end of La fleur que tu m’avais jetée, in Don José’s rapturous love song. The interview did not go as originally planned, but since the Met’s General Manager Peter Gelb wanted the audience to have immediate contact with his “stars,” the audience listened patiently as Alagna spoke of his vocal mishap in what surely was an embarrassing moment for the tenor. It is now becoming a question of how many of these “live” interviews the viewers have to sit through during these telecasts.

But Richard Eyre’s new production of composer Georges Bizet masterpiece has turned out to be the hit of the Met opera season so far. In the January 2010 issue of Opera News, the British director described that he and set and costume designer Rob Howell wanted to give the opera a grittier feel by moving the story from 19th Century Spain up to a “period a century forward to the 1930s, the fascist Franco era.” Howell was able to deliver on Eyre’s vision by creating, “a circular architectural space on the Met’s rotating stage” with a unit set that suggested “the ruins of a city wall, perhaps after a bombing.” Also, Eyre was able to add “psychological depth and social realism” with the cast he put together.

Alagna may not have achieved all that he wanted vocally with his Don Jose, but physically and dramatically the tenor delivered an emotionally disturbed character whose possessive love for Carmen could only lead to their destruction. Even though this was a new production for Alagna and Garanca, they looked entirely comfortable in their respective roles, likely because they sang Carmen and Don José in Europe before they came to the Met.

Garanca’s physical carriage as Carmen coincided with her vocal performance on the radio. The role posed no problems vocally, and she produced an even sound throughout her vocal range, but still she lacked the piquant nasal sound that French native speakers bring to the text. But her interpretation was unique. Garanca presented Carmen as an independent woman who showed annoyance with anyone trying to claim her love without her full consent. She also took her physical attraction to men as a given; the mezzo, even with her blue eyes, presented a warm, alluring Carmen; this no-nonsense Carmencita could have any pick of the litter.

The Act Four duet between Carmen and Don José was a dramatic standout for the couple. Alagna’s José, a volatile composite of jealousy, rage and mental instability appropriately did not mix with Garanca’s determination to be rid of José as a lover and ready to take on a new amorous adventure with the toreador Escamillo. The reason for their exciting delivery in this last scene was the dramatic harmony of their vocal strengths and emotional eruptions.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes’s stage presence as Escamillo added a lot to his performance. The tall baritone looked handsome in his black toreador costume and exhibited enough swagger to compensate for those moments when he could not meet the demands of the role’s vocal range.

Barbara Frittoli added a comfortable visual sense to the steady pleasing tone that her Micaela exhibited on the radio. In the soprano’s Act One duet with Don José, the couple produced some beautiful pianissimi that gave their meeting the poignant conclusion it needed. Here, Gary Halvorson’s camera produced the right visual picture to accompany the tender strains in Bizet’s music.

After conductor Vannick Nézet-Séguin’s rushed opening of Act One, he gave a clear and impassioned reading of the opera’s score which allowed the singers plenty of room to dramatize the vocals.

Unfortunately, in Act Two, Halvorson’s camera work moved too quickly over some of the scenes that involved the chorus, which interfered with the viewer’s understanding of the story. Also, he did not capture the best parts of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s gypsy dance at the beginning of Act Two. Halvorson moved the camera too quickly from one group of dancers to another for viewers to catch the many exacting linear movements the choreographer created for them as they moved through Bizet’s vibrant, earthy measures. He did, however, create an intense dramatic visual for the opera’s final duet.