Carmen at the Met!

On the night of November 4th it was drizzling and the skies were heavily overcast over the Mecca of all American opera lovers: the Metropolitan Opera.

But who really cares about rain while standing in the middle of that square… near that fountain…embracing that special atmosphere of anticipation and excitement, just 2 hours away from seeing Carmen with Elina Garanca and Nicole Cabell?!

Not us, anyway.

Tatiana and I happily kicked off our Met night with an elegant dinner at Arpeggio, the Avery Fisher Hall restaurant. The dinner was impossibly delicious: seared scallops, cauliflower puree with caper raisin relish and truffle potato puree, accompanied by Marquis de la Tour champagne.
At all honesty, the person who first thought about combining raisins and cauliflower was a true genius. Believe me, I am not a fan of either, but once combined they bring out an immense bouquet of flavor. And you have heard nothing yet! If, like most people, you like potatoes, you absolutely have to get that truffle potato puree at Arpeggio next time you go to the Met. Never in my life have I tasted a potato dish more exquisite and complex in flavor. And it does have truffles in it too!

The dinner concluded with coffee and some chocolate-but-nothing-out-of-the-common-way dessert.

Before we knew it, it was time to dive into the brimming crowd and walk across Lincoln Plaza to the always gorgeous brightly lit building. The Met was waiting!

If you ever use a Met elevator, you are likely to notice that Balcony/Family Circle Level crowd is anything but boring. It consists of all kinds of people, who split into 2 major categories: true opera lovers with tight budgets and opera first timers, able but unwilling to pay for something they might end up hating.

This fusion of different mentalities, agendas and comments makes the elevator riding experience utterly hilarious!

While we were going up, a gentleman standing next to me asked who I liked better: tenors or sopranos. Having successfully suppressed my sarcastic side, I answered quite seriously that it’s a bit hard to compare them, because tenor is male and soprano is female.

One lady asked another what level she was going to. The lady answered: “Balcony and Family Circle: the level of real opera lovers!”

Upon arrival, we found our seats and immediately felt like Balcony royalty. That’s right, Balcony Royalty, for every level , be it in opera or life, has royalty of its own.
Balcony Row A, my friends, is IT. No heads in front of you. Comfy and affordable. I highly recommend it. Smart choice!

And then... up went the famous chandeliers and the magic began!

Richard Eyre’s production of Carmen was very beautiful.

Of course, you all know the story and most of you have already seen this production live, in a movie theater or on PBS, so I will spare you from descriptive details and go straight to my personal perception of singing, acting and staging.

Elina Garanca was an incredible Carmen. An incredible singer. An incredible actress.
Her beautiful voice that boasted a wide vocal range and amazing tone, was flowing effortlessly, and made you forget that she was singing. That my friends, in my opinion, is the top level that one can reach in opera!
She portrayed a strong, vulgar, bold, loud, rude, sexy, and calculating creature, a bit diabolic and utterly mesmerizing. I absolutely loved the fate-defining moment when she tossed a white carnation at Don Jose. It was so well played and so dramatically significant!
Another amazing moment was in the last scene, when she let Don Jose push her really hard against the wall, turned around - and there was blood on her face. It was acted out so persuasively and so believably that several “Ah!”-s were heard in the audience, and a 1/100th of me shrugged with fear before common sense had a chance to kick in.

The best Musetta of our century, Nicole Cabell, played quite the opposite role. Not a trace of Puccini’s fiery and sinful siren! Dressed in a simple indigo dress, her modest but fearless Micaela came across with a most powerful stage presence.
Her voice, full of lyrical, crystal clear beauty, was gleaming with an endless, multi-faceted variety of tone. Just like Elina, she sang with so much ease that one could forget she was singing. She was just breathing, just living that music.

Those were the two gems of the evening.

Unfortunately, the male part of the cast was not particularly impressive. Don Jose, sung by Brandon Jovanovich, was flat, dry and boring both vocally and dramatically. Somehow Bizet’s music and his voice went their own separate ways and never crossed each other’s paths.

This was not the first Carmen I have seen live. However, for some reason, I have never been lucky with Escamillos. Of course, I am a very picky listener, but sadly, I never heard a well-sung Votre toast live.

This time, my hopes went up really high, and oops…a really bad Escamillo again, sung by none other than John Relyea. I hate to complain about artists, but the guy just blew it. His voice sounded extremely muffled, quite monotonous and demonstrated no elasticity or fluidity whatsoever. (Forgive me for expressing my humble opinion so decisively, but I really think that Escamillo should be sung by a dramatic baritone, not a bass-baritone.) Moreover, Mr. Relyea’s Escamillo was almost clumsy. One had an impression that he was very uncomfortable moving around or had a bad back…

Opera buffa and opera seria are the opposites, and apparently, not everyone can do both. I have to give Mr. Relyea credit for being a hilarious Don Basilio in Bartlett Sher’s 2007 Il Barbiere production. Dramatically, he nailed that part.
His Escamillo, however, was not in the least persuasive. It was hard to imagine why Carmen suddenly decided to dump one boring guy for another, an even more boring guy. Not that it never happens in real life, but one would expect a little more from Carmen, no? My point is neither of the gentlemen succeeded in making their characters believable.

The set, especially the one representing the bullfighting arena was lovely and clever. Nothing extra, but just right to get the feel of Merimee’s story and Bizet’s music. Every time I see a rotating stage at the Met (not a new, but a genius theater trick) it strikes me how much one can express through showing “the two sides of one coin” and what a long way that device can go.

Both Elina Garanca and Nicole Cabell had long standing ovations, and of course, in my usual sneaky manner, I got to take this cool curtain call shot that I am very proud to share with you all. Lovely, isn’t it?

(in the front row, left to right, you can see John Relyea as Escamillo, Brandon Jovanovich as Don Jose, Elina Garanca as Carmen and Nicole Cabell as Micaela).

Unfortunately, my friend did not enjoy the show to the fullest. During Act 1 she developed a headache, which was really a shame, considering it was her first time at the Met, and there was so much to embrace and enjoy. However, she did not feel like leaving early. Even though she would have enjoyed it much more, had she been feeling better, I hope she could still get something out of it and consider it a positive experience.

Next Met visit - April 9th, the HD day of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory.