Author: Kevin Proctor
With this year’s opera of choice, ‘Carmen’, COMO certainly maintain their standard showing they’re a very consistent society, their regular audiences and supporters will know exactly what they’re going to get in terms of vocal and musical quality.
It’s over a century since Bizet got busy on this passionate and exciting score, just about everyone will have heard and will be able to hum the Toreador’s Song, even if they don’t know where it came from.
Lorna Rushton portrayed the title character, the sassy gypsy girl, Carmen. The majority of this score didn’t sit in Lorna’s comfort zone and although the part was delivered and sung with absolute competence and first rate proficiency, as expected from her, this isn’t a score/part I’d choose to showcase the full potential of Lorna’s voice though she certainly didn’t fail to thrill in this title role.
After stepping in very late last year to take the lead in ‘The Tales Of Hoffmann’, it was nice to welcome back Robin Pieta to the COMO stage, this time in the role of the soldier, Don Jose. The highlight of Robin’s performance was undoubtedly his build up and eventual breakdown in the Act III finale which exposed copious passion and certainly left us all with a lump in our throat.
Subsequently, it was a delight to see David Palmer return – this time as Escamillo – who’s rich and opulent vocals charmed us all, another highly pleasurable rendition.
Heather Heighway was also in fine voice and demonstrated a well-crafted act as the meek and sweet Micaela.
Making an impression was Fiona Harrison as Frasquita who I do hope to see in larger principal roles in the future as this performance demonstrated a very competent voice which wholly held its own with vigour supported by an attractive and commanding stage presence.
The opera is set in Spain in the late 1800s – is sung in French with its libretto spoken in English. Obscurely, the players had clearly been instructed to deliver their speech with their own inherent accents which posed rather a bizarre result as I’m not entirely sure a Carmen with a broad Lancashire accent really fits the ambiance of the show and subsequently caused the odd chuckle. Furthermore, to demonstrate the inconsistency in the overall presentation was the assortment of eras with some parts played in traditional attire with other scenes looking like the cast had just stepped off a Benidorm coach tour. It needed to be all of one or all of the other as the combination just didn’t work for me on any level. I do see potential in the narrative being artistically retold via time shifting but the vision of this production wasn’t clear or strong enough to make its mark as a reinvention, it just didn’t read not knowing when or where we were supposed to be.
Thankfully, as the performance space was so minute with an enormous cast to perform on it, the set was kept very minimal with a collection of wooden benches to cleverly lay out each scene. We had some handsome artwork painted onto some homemade backcloths/sheets, one for each act, and the space was well lit with the appropriate atmosphere where required.
Juan Ortuño had, again, cleverly reduced the orchestra down to a size to function within the studio theatre – I feel a larger ensemble of musicians would have been too overpowering, particularly as the orchestra were positioned down once side of the audience. The musicians were controlled and guided through this iconic score with expert precision. The sound on stage from the principals was mighty though the tightness of the chorus is an area which slightly let the production down – the beginnings and ends of the chorus’s entrances and exits were not always together, however, once they got into a number, the vocals (particularly from the gentlemen) built up to a very pleasing and impressive sound indeed.
This audience was by far the most appreciative audience I’ve seen at a COMO production so congratulations to you all – keeping the people who part with their hard earned cash to visit your endeavours happy is what it’s all about – keep doing that and you’ll continue to thrive!