This was very much a pretty Carmen, not a gritty one. And with a few exceptions, the costumes, like the scenery, were all lovely to look at.
in the shady tavern of Act II, dark, somber colors in the sinister mountains of Act III, and a blend of all of the above in the initially festive, ultimately tragic Act IV. But the distinctly different color schemes of each act beautifully reflected each different emotional atmosphere: pale, sunny colors in the Act I street scene, sultry reds, purples, etc. It was a slightly awkward concept, neither traditional nor radical. The era seemed to be some unidentifiable time between Goya’s Spain and Franco’s. The four sets were beautifully, atmospherically traditional in the old grand manner, but the colorful costumes, conceived by the late fashion designer Jesús del Pozo, were an avant-garde combination of 19 th and early 20 th century styles. Unlike that Regie-ish Barbiere, his Carmen was conventional… more or less. The production, which premiered in Madrid in 1999 and has been in the LA Opera repertoire since 2004 (this was its third revival and my third time seeing it), was created by Emilio Sagi, whose wild and wacky Barbiere di Siviglia has recently been sweeping the world. While it was far from the best performance of Carmen I’ve ever seen, it was definitely a strong one that did justice to both the charms and the dramatic power of the world’s most famous opera.
And for the most part, it didn’t disappoint me. So while I’m sure that when the current LA Opera season was announced, plenty of critics yawned at the prospect of seeing Carmen again, I couldn’t have been happier or more excited to see it. I love to see and hear the ways that different performers interpret them and make them their own. Some opera lovers are always in search of the fresh, the new and the rare, but I personally never get tired of the popular warhorses. Associate Choreographer: Briseyda Zárate Fernández
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