Carmen (Inger) - Australian Ballet, Sydney

[Sophoife]

I had very carefully not read the ENB Carmen thread, nor any of the reviews of either ENB or TAB, before seeing this production last night.

 

Underwhelming.

 

Terrific, terrific performances by Dimity Azoury as Carmen, Adam Elmes as Don José and Maxim Zenin as Torero.

 

I can only sigh for Jill Ogai whom I surmise to have been born for this role according to all the reviews, but golly gee Azoury was sexy, slutty, and it was no wonder the impressionable young man Elmes (who'd already committed murder before even arriving at the tobacco factory) was enthralled by her.

 

Azoury is an experienced principal, paired with Elmes who only joined the company in 2020 so has barely had two years on stage and was promoted coryphée in 2023. He has stood out before now but last night I felt he looked and danced like a man, not a boy, if you see what I mean.

 

As for Zenin, the only word is "wow"! Sinuous, slinky, but with that marvellous upright carriage (which he maintains when leaving the theatre in a long coat, baggy trousers and trainers), he is a real superstar in the making. The wank-fest in front of the mirrors was... entertaining!

 

The production itself in terms of sets was clever, the moving triangular boxes were used effectively, but the costumes were...boring and cheap-looking.

 

Rolling around on the stage, females' legs splayed in presumed sexual invitation or display, vocalisations (there's a reason they're dancers not singers)...filler and not good filler. Tends to give the impression the choreography ran out of steam for a "full length" production (1h44m including 25 minute interval).

 

I didn't "get" the people in black rolling all over the stage, in fact I found them irritating, possibly because we had no indication on the stupid online cast sheet of who or what they were. Nor did we know the young men were called "Dogs".

 

I note the PDF cast sheets from ENB listed and named Guards, Dogs, Cigarreras, Main Shadows, and Shadows. No such information was provided by TAB. So disrespectful and downright annoying. 

 

My fears about the music were not entirely allayed, but it was better than I  had thought it might be. Music director Jonathan Lo obviously committed elsewhere (Cathy Marston's Atonement in Zürich with added bonus Lake Lucerne cruise with Brandon Lawrence and Sean Bates) so Daniel Capps led the Opera Australia Orchestra (one does wonder who was playing for OA's West Side Story just across the water, we saw and heard a bit at our interval) with sensitivity.

 

I have to say that for a production based on the Mérimée text rather than the opera, and alleging focus on passion and violence, with an entirely male creative team (choreographer, assistants, and dramaturg), it succeeded admirably in blaming the woman for the violence.

 

I wish I could have seen more than one performance, in order to be able to make a more full assessment.

 

 

Edited April 18 by Sophoife
Added last paragraph, then added cast sheet comments.

[alison]

36 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

I didn't "get" the people in black rolling all over the stage, in fact I found them irritating, possibly because we had no indication on the stupid online cast sheet of who or what they were. Nor did we know the young men were called "Dogs".

 

Or why ...

 

Absolutely agree with you, Sophoife.  I got verrrrrrry bored with all the rolling across the stage in the second act.  I might have given the first act another go, but actually realised I had very little free time when it was at Sadler's Wells.

[DelphiumBlue]

I didn't "get" the people in black rolling all over the stage, in fact I found them irritating, possibly because we had no indication on the stupid online cast sheet of who or what they were. Nor did we know the young men were called "Dogs
 

 

Neither did I. Although it was interesting to note the rolling technique I couldn’t quite understand their place in the narrative … And agree with you about all the ‘vocalisations’  , I wasn’t quite sure what they added . 
 

 

 

 

[DD Driver]

Great review @Sophoife 

Yes, this was the ideal role for Jill Ogai, who is a favourite of mine.

I'm glad to hear that Adam Elmes stepped up so well to the character of Don José.

 

I wanted to see this production, as I love the music of Carmen, but I just can't afford more Sydney Opera House tickets right now.

From the promotional marketing, I was underwhelmed with the costuming.  Did not clinch the sale, for me!

It is disappointing that the all male creative team used 'females' legs splayed in presumed sexual invitation' & 

that you felt 'it succeeded admirably in blaming the woman for the violence'

 

Ballet is so expensive that one naturally expects high art, not low art.  Seduction not Salacious.

[Sophoife]

Thanks for noticing my snark @DD Driver 🤣

 

As my mother would have said (she said it about the bed scenes in The Silver Rose), "It's so unnecessary!"

[marycecilia]

Thank you so much for your excellent review @Sophoife- I don't feel so bad now about missing Carmen! It would have been lovely to have seen Dimity or Jill in the title role, but I hesitated to book because I had a feeling it might be a bit disappointing, and I'd rather save my money for really good seats at the other ballets. Very much looking forward to the rest of the season!