Except that otherwise it's a really good production: the usual ingenious devices to reduce the cast requirements, including the idea that in the nameless South American state in which the adaptation is set, the soldiers are moonlighting as smugglers with Zuniga's tacit knowledge -- after all the two sets of singers never appear on stage at the same time, so why not double up the roles and halve the requirement? ;-)
The usual really good acting ('close up'!) and talented young principals -- I saw both casts, and both are excellent -- and the usual fascinating reorchestration of a complete score for a handful of instruments (in this case, flute, cello, violin and piano, which is one more instrument than usual...)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2015-09-08 06:43 pm (UTC)The usual really good acting ('close up'!) and talented young principals -- I saw both casts, and both are excellent -- and the usual fascinating reorchestration of a complete score for a handful of instruments (in this case, flute, cello, violin and piano, which is one more instrument than usual...)
And than you've got this massive off-kilter rewrite running through the whole thing from the tavern scene onwards, and it doesn't make sense: Carmen pays her debts, but she doesn't pay them to the extent of letting her corporal beat her up. She isn't a needy, dependent woman with nowhere else to go -- she doesn't need to give him the time of day ever again after he hits her during their first night out. She isn't as attracted to him as all that! And given that the actress portrays her at all other times with such strong body language, having her cringing before José looks really weird...