LA Opera’s Carmen feels bloated, opulent

One of the most popular operas ever, Georges Bizet’s Carmen carries with it the drama, scale and sex appeal befitting to kick off the Los Angeles Opera’s 2013-14 season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. To add to its glamour, acclaimed director Placido Domingo was in the pit to conduct on opening night. Yet, in the end, it was not the production’s grandiose scale, but its select intimate moments that made an impact.

Flowery mess · Ildebrand D’Arcangelo (left) plays Escamillo and Patricia Bardon plays Carmen (right) in the Placido Domingo-helmed Carmen. The opera is set beautifully, but the pacing can feel sluggish at times. – Courtesy of Los Angeles Opera

The tale of a gypsy and a soldier, Carmen explores the themes of lust, love and freedom. The opera follows Don Jose (played by Brandon Jovanovich), a soldier who gives up his job and his childhood love to pursue Carmen (played by Patricia Bardon), a bohemian fortuneteller who just wants to live a life unencumbered by society. Carmen makes her first appearance on the set barefoot. Last season, before the opening of Cinderella, conductor James Conlon explained that the reason Cinderella would lose a bracelet and not her slipper is because it was once considered scandalous for a woman to show her bare feet on stage. Clearly, Carmen could care less about exposing her feet. Bardon is in control of the role, convincingly commanding attention as she dances, teases and flirts. There is a slightly darker edge to Barton’s Carmen, which is a welcome addition and some character development that would be worthy of exploring even further in later performances.

To the audience, Carmen is an enigma. Her desires, her secrets, her fears are all kept hidden. All that is clear is how much she values her freedom. The rest of her secrets are kept at arm’s length away from the audience and Don Jose. It must be difficult to play a character who feels more like an ideal than a person, but Bardon makes Carmen feel real, delivering an understated yet strong performance. It helps, of course, that she has a familiarity in the role: This is her fourth time playing Carmen, previously with the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish Opera and the Hamburg State Opera.

Her counterpart, Don Jose, has a fieriness to him that comes out more and more throughout the night as he and Carmen fight. It’s hard to feel sorry for him. He gives up everything for a woman he doesn’t know. He allows her to use him. Rather than go to his sick mother, or be faithful to his childhood love, Micaela (played by South African soprano Pretty Yende), he stays put — masochistically, he enjoys that she treats him poorly. Jovanovich comes into his own in the role in the final act. It’s a highly-charged performance and Jovanovich finally lets his anger and lust come through in his voice.

The standout performance of the night, though, belonged to Yende. When she sang her solo in the third act, it was almost as though the audience held its breath until she finished. There always seems to be something heroic about an opera because of its scale and size, and the passion that she brought to the song gave the night that sense.

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo’s brief performance as the glamorous toreador Escamillo was another highlight. D’Arcangelo brought a surprisingly humorous element to the production. He too has his eye on Carmen, and his voice takes on a knowing swagger as he sings and then reprises “Toreador” while he looks for Carmen. Just how hard is it to find a set of thieves hiding on a mountain? Apparently, not very. He finds her easily before he is threatened by Don Jose at swordpoint. But almost immediately after Don Jose leaves, one hears his dulcet tone ring out again: “Toreador.”

Carmen’s sets are staggering. Originally created for the Teatro Real in Madrid, Gerardo Trotti’s vision translates just as well in Downtown Los Angeles. It sets the mood and gives the production a scale. Still, the breadth of the set makes the performances feel removed at times. In total, the show has 280 cast, crew and orchestra members, but the sheer number of people on stage, along with the massive sets, made some of the scenes feel crowded and overwhelming.

There is a lot of excess in this Carmen that could have been trimmed to make the production stronger. The opening night ran long, and the audience did not linger in their seats after the last act. Though the individual performances were powerful, many elements, especially the group songs, felt like they went on unnecessarily long, a sharp contrast to the music in the opera and the plot, which is is so upbeat. A few edits to make the plot focus more on the central characters and less on the background story might have gone a long way here.

Still, the night delivered what it promised: a grandiose world of color, emotion and song. And the music alone is enough, sometimes. The songs in Carmen such as “Habanera,” “Seguidilla” and “Toreador Song” are favorites that almost everyone knows. To hear the L.A. Opera Orchestra play them will have you leaving singing “Toreador.”

Carmen runs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through Oct. 6.

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