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Old friend, new friend
May. 12th, 2009 09:08 pmYou may recall that a couple of months ago, I mentioned being at a film and running into a woman who had been in my college graduating class. We ran into each other again at the opera a couple of weeks ago, and said, "Let's do something after the next opera." The next opera was last Sunday, and we had drinks and dinner afterward, and really hit it off. I think I may have another "running buddy"!
The opera itself was fantastic! It was Peter Brook's La Tragédie de Carmen, a reconstruction and distillation of Bizet's opera. It's pared down - the orchestra has only 15 members, and there's no chorus, just five singers, and two roles that are just acted - Lillas Pastia and Garcia, which were doubled in this production (Garcia doesn't appear in Bizet, but he does in Prosper Merimée's story - he's Carmen's husband). They updated it to the '30s, during the Spanish Civil War, which was fine, but they didn't really do anything with the historical setting. Carmen (who had a gorgeous dark voice) was a sort of Piaf-y cabaret singer, and Escamillo a boxer, like Marcel Cerdan. I liked the production a lot.
The opera itself was fantastic! It was Peter Brook's La Tragédie de Carmen, a reconstruction and distillation of Bizet's opera. It's pared down - the orchestra has only 15 members, and there's no chorus, just five singers, and two roles that are just acted - Lillas Pastia and Garcia, which were doubled in this production (Garcia doesn't appear in Bizet, but he does in Prosper Merimée's story - he's Carmen's husband). They updated it to the '30s, during the Spanish Civil War, which was fine, but they didn't really do anything with the historical setting. Carmen (who had a gorgeous dark voice) was a sort of Piaf-y cabaret singer, and Escamillo a boxer, like Marcel Cerdan. I liked the production a lot.
