Live retransmission in HD from New York. With the sublime Elina Garança as Carmen and the famous Roberto Alagna as Don Jose.
There's no proper word to describe Garança, she's just too amazing. She acts well, sings well, dances well. She is sexy without ever crossing the border of vulgarity that some others cross. Her eyes say so many things. Her voice is sustained, strong, beautiful. She's just the most amazing Carmen I've ever seen. I haven't seen all that many, to be honest, but she's one I will always remember.
Alagna was doing fine too. Good acting (sometimes a bit overboard, but it's because he has a lot of energy, so it's okay), good singing even though he had a few problems in the aria of the 2nd act. He caught up at the end though, and that's what matters. He was very moving in the final act and I had a lot more compassion for his character than I did in the previous versions (especially that of Carreras where Don Jose is just a jealous brute). Overall he and Garança had very good chemistry and their acting was so good that I wondered how many bruises and scratches they must have from pushing each other around so much.
The barytone role was supposed to be taken by Mariusz K (sorry can't remember the spelling of his last name) but he was apparently ill and got replaced. The guy wasn't bad but his French pronunciation was a mess. Not the most charismatic Escamillo I've ever seen, but still very decent and... very tall! He did well overall. His "Toreador" song was overall very well sung.
The role of Michaella was taken by some Italian soprano, but I can't remember her name. She has a beautiful voice, sustained and she does the arias very nicely, but she doesn't have much charisma and her presence on stage is almost disregarded. Well, it might be because Alagna and Garança shine so much, everyone around them seems to be lacking something!
Anyways. The stages, the costumes, the overall production was AMAZING. The use of color lights to follow the tone of the music, the use of a rotating platform for the changing environment, which is actually more or less always the same set but used in a variety of ways, everything was well thought out and nicely done.
The same set + Garança as usual + Alagna in better vocal shape + Netrebko as Michaella + someone with charisma like Hvorostovsky as Escamillo + my favorite conductor Marco Armiliato... And that would be what I call the perfect version...
But I can keep dreaming. I don't think it's happening anytime soon. lol
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