Vibrant mezzo-soprano is the ultimate 'Carmen'
Title role is sung with gorgeously crafted expressiveness
By Edward Reichel
Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is a surefire way for any opera company to pack the theater, and that was certainly the case Saturday for Utah Opera's opening-night performance of this venerable and much adored opera.
And there is much to appreciate in this production, starting with Carmen herself.
Mezzo-soprano Leann Sandel-Pantaleo plays the title role as a vibrant, lusty girl who lives for the moment and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions.
Her Carmen seethes with a sexual energy that is barely contained. It's easy to see how a small-town innocent like Don Jose can quickly fall for her considerable charms.
This is Utah Opera's sixth staging of Bizet's opera, and Sandel-Pantaleo is without question the best Carmen that has been seen here.
She lends wonderful credibility to her character. Her voice is warm and supple, and she sings with gorgeously crafted expressiveness.
Tenor Chad Shelton was in top form Saturday night as Don Jose. His singing was wonderful, and his interpretation brought a well-defined and modulated characterization to his role.
It was chilling to see him transform himself from a love-struck young soldier in Act I to an enraged man obsessed with possessing Carmen at all costs by the end of the opera.
As the bullfighter Escamillo, baritone Christopher Feigum was rather weak in both his singing and his acting.
There was no chemistry between him and Carmen, and it was a stretch imagining her dumping any man for him.
Soprano Erin Snell as Micaela did a fine job with her role as Don Jose's fiancee. In her shyness and naivete, she was a good foil to Carmen. She sang her small part well, although she was at her best in the middle range of her voice. Her high notes were strident.
Baritone Christopher Clayton and bass Gregory Pearson as the soldiers Morales and Zuniga were excellent in their respective roles, as were baritone Brent Turner and tenor Aaron Blake as the smugglers El Danca?o and El Remendado, respectively.
The chorus has a large part in "Carmen," and the Utah Opera Chorus outdid themselves.
They gave a powerful performance throughout the evening that once again showed they are one of the most impressive opera choruses in the country.
The children's chorus was sung by members of the Madeleine Choir School. The youngsters were delightful in their Act I chorus.
The members of the Utah Symphony in the pit for this production generally played well, although not as precisely as they normally do. There were surprisingly quite a few careless entrances.
Conductor Ari Pelto took most of the tempos at a brisk pace. This moved the action along well in Garnett Bruce's staging, but it created some problems, as well. In the first half of Act I, the orchestra and singers frequently weren't together. And although things went better as the opera progressed, this was nevertheless a problem throughout the evening.
But the problems notwithstanding, this is a production worth seeing, thanks to Sandel-Pantaleo. She is the ultimate Carmen. |
