The pain of others, and of the self becomes more difficult to bear with each passing year. Some may appear to become hardened over time but this is usually a form of defence. This weekend I had the privilege of experiencing the last of this seasons’ three conversions of the Wallander books into a 90 min tale. It was the brilliant and very moving and written with a great empathy for human suffering and emotional pain.
I have known the music and story of Bizet’s Carmen since being taken by the aunties to a touring production in Croydon during my childhood. My next encounter with the brazen and raunchy Spanish gypsy was with the film Carmen Jones. A few years ago I made video’s of three short versions each 90 mins. I have a bought within the last decade CD but I cannot remember attending another live production until Saturday when beforehand I also watched and listened to a download from the Metropolitan Opera New York, because up until lunchtime I was unsure if my cough would improve sufficiently to attend the relay at the Tyneside Picture theatre in Newcastle.
Both the opera and the Wallander story are about pain, real pain, but experienced at a distance, experienced for pleasure and entertainment.
Then waking late after staying up even later and feeling relaxed and looking forward to the day and the week I switched on the radio while in the bathroom and heard a member of the Catholic order of the Silesians relaying reports that all their educational, hostels and relief centres in Haiti had been demolished and in particular the fate of the pupils in one establishment where the youngest were on the top floor, presumably for security reasons and oldest on lower so that when the building collapsed, some of the older are known to have got out but the majority with the teaching staff did not. The representative, I believe a priest, spoke in calm matter of fact way but there was no hiding the sorrow and the pain in his voice
I coughed a lot on Saturday morning uncertain whether to attend the performance or return the ticket. I tried to cough out, taking doses of the mixture at ten and then mid afternoon. I no longer had a runny nose which meant there was less mucous going to the chest. I worked upon a plan and got myself ready early afternoon cooking four chicken drumsticks and eating one with the second dose of Beechams’ All in One medication. I made up a tomato and basil soup for the flask and packed a carton of grapes. It was a day for a suit with the light mauve shirt which required cuff links and which took sometime to insert, a pair given by my aunt.
I then made my way to the car park close to the High Street and purchased thirty minutes of time going to the bank for some cash and then to Wilkinson’s for a packet of Murray mints and two packets of Polo mints. I could have obtained these from several other stores but I was also fast running out of plastic pockets for the lever arch files for my work and I wanted to check out the cost of those at the store. The pound land where charging £1 for 80 but these were of inferior quality to those acquired from Asda and Wilkinson and which in turn were cheaper than Staples. Bingo and Eureka, there was a special offer where instead of 95p 100, 200 were available for £1.30. Brilliant. I purchased a carton of ten and determined to return on Sunday for more, which I did, getting 20 and leaving half a dozen or so behind, as I rightly assessed what I had would fill the shelf where I store them.
I then travelled to the Hewarth Interchange travel centre car park, foregoing 20p on top of the charge of £1.80 for four hours which would take me past the charging period for the day. I enjoyed the soup and remembered to take with me a small bottle of water in addition to a supply of the mints, my gloves and scarf and a small telescopic umbrella noticing that I was not coughing as much as before, if at all.
The latest score from Stamford Bridge was that Sunderland were only losing 5.0, with four goals scored conceded in the first third of the game. Newcastle play on Monday night on Sky. Just as well the car radio remained to be fixed. Chelsea went on to score two more. England were losing badly at the cricket so that the series against South Africa would be drawn. The switch from Football to Opera this winter was proving a great decision. The judgement and wisdom of age.
I arrived at the Theatre just after five pm having had to produce my travel pass during the journey at a checking purge at Gateshead. One young passenger immediately owned up that he was travelling without a ticket and was sent off the train to see the Inspector. There was a similar gathering of ticket checkers at the Monument station exit.
There was a dozen people at the box office, going to cinema showings, collecting previously ordered tickets or hoping for last hour returns. I went to the toilet, found that the cafe restaurant on the second floor and the bar on the fourth were full with standing room only and made my way to the first floor where opposite the entrance to the Classic Circle there was a screen showing Newsreels. The Tyneside Theatre opened in 1937 as a Newsreel theatre. At the time there were about 40000 cinema seats in the greater Newcastle 40 theatres until the arrival of Daily Television broadcasting in the 1950’s. The news reel theatre had a feature programme of sport, educational and interest documentaries, including cartoons. In addition to the News there were usually four other films per programme, one on sport, a travelogue, on some household activity and a cartoon. Before TV the only way to see news was through the news reels which were also shown in between the main and second feature film in standard theatres. This was also at a time of the continuous performance. You could purchase a ticket at noon when the theatre opened and sit through to when the Queen was played at the closing watching the highlights of a football or cricket game over and over and over again. People also entered and left the shows in the standard theatres during a performance and as we went in early this was after the B picture had commenced but we did not always stay for the next showing. Because the standard theatres, the Odeon’s, the Grenada’s, The Gaumont’s and the smaller independent showed USA and British films it was left to some of the News Theatre to begin to show films produced by European countries, mainly France, Italy and some from Spain, and Ingmar Bergman. This is how the Tyneside Film Theatre developed.
As previously mentioned I had seen a production of Carmen live during my childhood with scenery painted backcloth. In 1954 Otto Preminger updated the story to Afro America with Harry Belafonte playing a recruit providing guard duty at a Parachute making factory during World War II. The film is based on an Oscar Hammerstein II 1943 musical using the music of Bizet. Carman, played by Dorothy Danbridge, works at the factory and gets into a fight with the co worker who has reported her for being late. Joe is told by a Sgt to convey Carmen to the authorities much to the dismay of his girl friend, Cindy Lou, who has come to factory to say she will marry him on his next leave.
The wanton Carmen sets out to seduce Joe to gain her freedom and her effort intensifies when he initially rejects her advances. He wakes after spending the night together when their vehicles ends up in a river to find a note from her saying sorry that she is not going to jail but she loves him. Joe is locked in the stockade for allowing his prisoner to escape and matters get worse when Cindy Lou leaves him in anger after arriving to find a rose from Carmen being delivered to him. Carmen gets work in a local night club to await for the release of Joe and in the film Pearl Bailey sings an exciting number Beat Out that Rhythm on a drum. Joe Adams plays Husky Miller a prize fighter who arrives at the club with his entourage, takes a fancy to Carmen and tries to buy her attention with gifts but she ignores his advances.
When Joe is released from prison and visits Carmen her response makes him feel his imprisonment has been worthwhile but he is then summoned away to attend flying school. Carmen is incensed and shows her disapproval by accepting an invitation from Joe‘s Sgt to go off with him. This anger’s Joe and he fights the Sgt. Realising he will get a long prison sentence for this and Joe flees to Chicago with Carmen where they rent a small room and Carmen goes in secret to seek money from the Boxer to enable her and Joe to survive. When Joe persists in wanting to know how she managed to obtain the groceries bought with the cash, she goes off again, to the Hotel suite of the fighter accompanied by friends. She uses cards to tell her fortune and this reveals her premature death. She responds to this news by indulging in an orgy of drink and sex portrayed only by inference given the era when the film was made.
Cindy Lou arrives in search of her fiancée and then Joe arrives and threatens to get into a fight with the Boxer. Carmen helps him to escape but she has become attached to the boxer. Joe finds her on the day of the big fight and pleads with her to return to him. She refuses and tells him to kill her or let her go. He strangles her in a moment of jealous a passion just as the police arrive to arrest him for desertion.
Preminger met considerable opposition to getting the funding for the project and eventually was forced to accept several constraints when it was realised he intended to follow the original story portraying a woman with no morals and without moralising about her behaviour. Preminger also had misgivings about the casting of Dorothy Danbridge who herself had doubts but was persuaded by the Director who then commenced to have an affair with her! Although Dorothy and Harry Belafonte both sang, Carmen Jones is an operatic musical and therefore their voices were dubbed by Marilyn Horne and Le Verne Hutcherson. The film had very mixed reviews with some feeling that the contemporary story was at odds with the music of grand opera, and others that too many compromises had been made to appease a still racist and segregated United States. I have the original Long Play record with titles such as Lift em up and Put em down, You talk just like my Maw. Dere’s a cafe in de corner! My CD version of the Opera has Regine Resnik as Carmen and Joan Sutherland as Micaela
Because of uncertainty about my ability to cope with the performance in theatre, on Saturday morning I watched the only video version on the Metropolitan Opera i player reading the available information beforehand. As with many works when the opera opened in Paris is was denounced by the majority of the critics and there was a move to end its run in the first week, but survived the attacks to complete 48 performances. The young composer then died a few months later aged 37 unaware that the opera was to be hailed a triumph when it was performed in Austria later in the year but after which only gradually became one of the most popular and best loved operas around the world.
The opera is set in Seville, Spain in 1830 where Michaela a village maiden comes to the city to find her fiancée Don Jose, a corporal working at the Guard House but is yet to come on shift. She is approached by the soldiers and runs away to turn later. Don Jose arrives with the change of guard whose ritual is imitated by street children, thus providing opportunity for talented youngsters from stage schools to appear in a major opera production. He is dedicated soldier eager to impress and be a credit to his mother who lives in the same village as Micaela. The couple appear to be well suited and devoted to each other.
Don Jose’s period of duty coincides with the emergence of women from the cigarette factory for smoking break where they are greeted by their admirers. Last to emerge is Carmen, a beautiful young gypsy woman with a reputation for taking lovers but discarding them as quickly if they do not live up to her expectations or if she finds someone who interests her more. She likes to be the centre of attention and reacts when Don Jose shows no interest in her. When they return to work Micaela arrives with a letter from the mother of Don Jose and before they part it is agreed that they will marry soon.
After she has left there are cries with the factory and Carmen and been fighting another worker who slashes her across the. The officer of the watch arrests Carmen and places her in the custody of Don Jose while he writes a warrant for her to be conveyed to prison. Carmen makes a play for Don Jose, offering herself and he unties her hands so with the help of the other girls she is able to escape when the officer returns with the completed warrant, This is sufficient for Don Jose to be punished by being restricted to barracks. This ends the first act.
A month has passed when Act 2 opens and Carmen and her friends sing and dance at an Inn where the customers include the officer of Don Jose’s watch and he invites Carmen and her friends to go with him to the theatre. She is committed to Don Jose who she knows was released the previous day. The Bullfighters are in town and the most famous is Escamillo the Matador who flirts with Carmen after singing the famous Toreador(collective description for all classes of bullfighters) song. Carmen does not reject him in the same way as the officer saying he should not dream of being hers, with the caveat for the time being.
Then smugglers arrive trying to enlist Carmen and the other girls to participate in the selling of contraband they have smuggled from Gibraltar. Carmen rejects the offer startling everyone by saying she is love. I know something about smuggling and Gibraltar because when my birth and care mothers, their sisters and brothers were growing up before during and immediately after the First World War smuggling was practiced by almost the entire resident population of Gibraltar and the equal number of Spanish workers who crossed back and forth across border with Spain every day. One of the uncles was able to run about the rock in a chauffer driven car from the early gambling slot machines and the smuggling which he encouraged several of his sisters to participate in. Then it was citizens black economy more than hierarchical organised crime which came with the trade in illegal drugs in the last quarter of the 20th century.
The other aspect worth mentioning is that Spain was and remains, but to less extent, a country where Roman Catholicism is the religion of the overwhelming majority with pre war the then the peasant and lower middle class population practicing a simple and devout religion and where the Spanish practised a social code where unmarried women would not be left in the presence of males who were not relatives without a chaperon. Carmen would have been exceptional, even among Gypsy women.
Jose enters the opera again before the smugglers leave and they urge her to bring him along on the enterprise. Jose returns the gold coin she sent him while in custody and she orders fruit and wine to celebrate his releases and dances with her friends for him. All appears well until the retreat is sounded for the soldiers to return to barracks and Jose makes to go off. This is not what Carmen wants and alleges that Jose does not love her. He respond with the Flower song showing that he kept the flower which she also sent to him in jail. She begs him to leave the army and enjoy the freedom she experiences. Just when it looks that he will not desert his officer arrives in search of Carmen and Jose draws his sword but before they can fight the smugglers re-enter and disarm them and the officer is made a prisoner. Everyone including the Don Jose is forced to then flee or be imprisoned.
This is when the interval usually takes place. I had felt the need to cough just as the performance commenced. I had bought a small glass of wine, although technically it was a plastic cup. and was able to take a series of sips and with water this cleared without making me feel uncomfortable or affecting the enjoyment of others, In fact I quickly noticed that others has a more disturbing problems although overall there was very little theatre. I was so pleased with my ability to cope with the first part that I bought a second glass of Merlot with a small tub of salted peanuts, remembering to use my Friend’s Card to gain a discount.
The third Act is described as a wild and deserted rocky place where the smugglers are travelling with the contraband and Carmen has already tired of her latest lover because he is at heart a village lad. The gypsy women read the cards and then Carmen looks for her future and that of Don Jose and the cards foretell that they both will have premature deaths. The role of the girls is to charm the customs officers and they leave Jose to guard the contraband. This provides the opportunity for Micaela to reappear having followed in search of her fiancée and is determined to take Jose away from the influence of Carmen. Then Escamillo the Toreador also arrives in search of Carmen and he tells Don Jose that the gypsy has become infatuated with a soldier, not realising that Jose was the man. Jose still jealous because of Carmen’s behaviour towards him challenges the bullfight, but the man resists until provoked further when he disarms the soldier, leaving him saying his trade is to kill bulls, not men. Don Jose starts to fight again but the Smugglers return and disarm Jose. The Bullfighter invites them to attend his next bullfight in Seville.
In the fourth Act the scene is outside the bullring on the opening day of the latest contest. This provides the opportunity for the full procession of the bullfighters and leading personalities of the town to march in procession-, the cuidrilla. I have attended one Bullfight in Barcelona, leaving at half time because I had seen enough of the ritual slaughter of the bulls. My prejudices were more than confirmed because the various levels of bullfighter are given every possible protection and bulls are medicated to ensure while they put up a performance they offer little risk as they are ceremonial tortured to death. Their is no honour in the activity which is worse than fox hunting. There are three matadors who each fight two bulls and each has six assistants, two Picadores, men on padded horses who pick at the bulls with lancers, three Banderilleros who push sharp pointed sticks into the bull and the sword holder who hands the killing weapon to the Matador when the bull is ready for the kill. The group procession into the arena where they salute the presiding dignitaries who are accompanied by the other social dignitaries of the town and visiting celebrities, friends and families of the bullfighters. The costumes are flamboyant. The so called fight has thee stages where the bull is tested by the use of the cape by the Matador and his walking assistants. The second stage is those on horses and where until the 1930 when the padding was introduced more horses were killed by the bulls than the bulls themselves. The purpose is to disable the bull to reduce the danger in the final stage. At this stage the banderilleros each attempt to plant two of pointed sticks into the shoulders of the bull. There is a loss of blood from these attacks. Finally the matador enters with the sword hidden in the cape. The whole notion of red the flag to a bull is nonsense as bulls are colour blind and the use of red is to mask the flow of blood from the wounded bull.
The crowd then participate by signalling their approval or disapproval of the performance by waving of white handkerchiefs in which instance the Matador may be reward by one or two of the bulls ears and in some areas with the tail for an exceptional performance. Equally if the crowd like the bull they will call for its life to be saved in which instance it returns to its ranch to stud and does not participation in any further bullfight. This crowd participation is reminiscent of the Roman crowd and the gladiatorial contests.
There are bull fights where the bull is not physically injured and where the team are dressed normally and who performs are acrobatics without the use of the cape. The men work as a team without the status distinctions and compete for points against the other teams. There are variations in different countries, Portugal where it is now illegal to kill the bull in an arena, France and in Latin America.
There was marked difference in how the procession was treated in the 1997 and 2010 Metropolitan productions. In 1997 the participants were in their full historical finery with the Picadores astride real horses whereas on Saturday the approach was to wear casual clothes, no horses and no visible instruments of torture and death. The emphasis was on raunchy sex instead and more on that in a moment. The procession provide the opportunity for a second appearance of the street children and everyone leaves the stage for the closing moments. In the 1997 production Carmen is transformed into a Spanish lady and consort of Escamillo. Before she enters the stadium she is told that Don Jose has also come to the city and her friends warn her to be on her guard. Carmen being Carmen and aware of what the cards foretold goes in search of her former lover to persuade him to let her go. She was born free and wishes to remain free. Don Jose pleads with her in one of the most moving solos in all opera. Carmen maintain her position and tell him to kill her or let her go. In his desperation, jealousy and hate he kills her but is then horrified by what he has done and he makes no attempt to flee before he is apprehended knowing his life has also ended.
The opera had been performed and recorded by all the great opera singers with in my life time Victoria de los Angeles, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry Marilyne Horner, Jessye Norman and Angela Gheorghiu, together with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, More recently the role of Don Jose has been made his own by Roberto Alagna until recently the husband of Angela Gheorghiu who made a recording together in 2003. In 1997 Angela played the part of Micaela and was to have returned to Met as Carmen in this year’s production with her husband in the role of Don Jose. They have now parted and Angela withdrew from the production as a consequence.
Because of my uncertainty the decision to watch the 1997 production did not reduced the impact of 2010 performance in the evening. Carmen was played in 1997 by Waltraud Meir the international German Soprano and mezzo soprano who although 46 at the time had a reputation as an actress performer and was very convincing as an experience woman with many previous lovers who could attract the attention of most men she encountered and confidently expected to remain in control of the relationship for as long as she wished. I once visited a tourist nightclub in Athens in Greece at which the female singer has perfected the art of getting all the men to focus on her irrespective of whether they were there with their partners and regardless of the feelings of the partners. She selected a victim to pretend to flirt and seduce and then discard leaving him looking foolish. Sitting at the same table was a well built mature German gentleman, with his equally formidable looking wife and the actress singer made a bee line to attract his interest as soon as she noted his indifference which from my perspective bordered on contempt and she tried to engage his attention more than once but she was ignored which only appeared to make her more determined.
Whereas in the 2010 production Carmen, Elina Garanca performed this role in very physical way, Meir’s performance was achieved by looks and gestures. Elina is a younger performer with a sexy voice as well as body, in part achieved from being a mezzo-soprano, born 1976 in Latvia.
Placido Domingo remains the most outstanding operatic performer of his generation from what I have experienced todate and this includes Pavarotti but not Carreras who I am yet to see in a full operatic role. It is the number and range of the roles undertaken that impresses together with his constant ability to communicate the deepest emotions and role credibility even when there is a mismatch between his actual age and that of the part. However in terms of Carmen, Roberto Alagna, born Paris of a Sicilian family takes the honours because he is more convincing as a young man from a Spanish village out of his depths when confronted by a woman such as Carmen. In part this was because of differences in the production with that of 1997 putting the emphasis Done Jose strutting confidently around in an impressive uniform whether as a soldier or Smuggler. Both were brilliant at communication their desperation at being reject by Carmen for Escamillo at the end. The role of Micaela is a difficult one because while a chaste girl from the village she has to cope with the advances of the soldiers at the city guard house and also be able to travel on her own in search of her fiancée all the way from Servile to Gibraltar in the days before public transport where travel would have been by donkey if not on foot. In 1997 the role was performed by Gheorghiu.
The other observation to be made that while Carmen is full of glorious music it does not have the same power as Il Travatore, Butterfly from dramatic moments but continues to stand alongside Aida from those seen in relay with only Turandot lacking the overall impact of the others.
Sitting next to me was a man of a similar generation who engaged in conversation, asking if this was my first experience and this led to talking about my other recent experiences including the disappointment over the contract not being taken up by Cineworld. He provided the information that Cineworld has taken out a new contract with Covent Garden which led to checking the Internet site on return. The only anxiety is the note tbc. This will compensate for the new Odeon at Metrocentre not indicating participation in the relays at this stage. The man had gone there to view Avator in 3D Imax. I had planned to follow this piece immediate with my reactions to the Wallander but on reflection Wallander merits separate consideration.
I have known the music and story of Bizet’s Carmen since being taken by the aunties to a touring production in Croydon during my childhood. My next encounter with the brazen and raunchy Spanish gypsy was with the film Carmen Jones. A few years ago I made video’s of three short versions each 90 mins. I have a bought within the last decade CD but I cannot remember attending another live production until Saturday when beforehand I also watched and listened to a download from the Metropolitan Opera New York, because up until lunchtime I was unsure if my cough would improve sufficiently to attend the relay at the Tyneside Picture theatre in Newcastle.
Both the opera and the Wallander story are about pain, real pain, but experienced at a distance, experienced for pleasure and entertainment.
Then waking late after staying up even later and feeling relaxed and looking forward to the day and the week I switched on the radio while in the bathroom and heard a member of the Catholic order of the Silesians relaying reports that all their educational, hostels and relief centres in Haiti had been demolished and in particular the fate of the pupils in one establishment where the youngest were on the top floor, presumably for security reasons and oldest on lower so that when the building collapsed, some of the older are known to have got out but the majority with the teaching staff did not. The representative, I believe a priest, spoke in calm matter of fact way but there was no hiding the sorrow and the pain in his voice
I coughed a lot on Saturday morning uncertain whether to attend the performance or return the ticket. I tried to cough out, taking doses of the mixture at ten and then mid afternoon. I no longer had a runny nose which meant there was less mucous going to the chest. I worked upon a plan and got myself ready early afternoon cooking four chicken drumsticks and eating one with the second dose of Beechams’ All in One medication. I made up a tomato and basil soup for the flask and packed a carton of grapes. It was a day for a suit with the light mauve shirt which required cuff links and which took sometime to insert, a pair given by my aunt.
I then made my way to the car park close to the High Street and purchased thirty minutes of time going to the bank for some cash and then to Wilkinson’s for a packet of Murray mints and two packets of Polo mints. I could have obtained these from several other stores but I was also fast running out of plastic pockets for the lever arch files for my work and I wanted to check out the cost of those at the store. The pound land where charging £1 for 80 but these were of inferior quality to those acquired from Asda and Wilkinson and which in turn were cheaper than Staples. Bingo and Eureka, there was a special offer where instead of 95p 100, 200 were available for £1.30. Brilliant. I purchased a carton of ten and determined to return on Sunday for more, which I did, getting 20 and leaving half a dozen or so behind, as I rightly assessed what I had would fill the shelf where I store them.
I then travelled to the Hewarth Interchange travel centre car park, foregoing 20p on top of the charge of £1.80 for four hours which would take me past the charging period for the day. I enjoyed the soup and remembered to take with me a small bottle of water in addition to a supply of the mints, my gloves and scarf and a small telescopic umbrella noticing that I was not coughing as much as before, if at all.
The latest score from Stamford Bridge was that Sunderland were only losing 5.0, with four goals scored conceded in the first third of the game. Newcastle play on Monday night on Sky. Just as well the car radio remained to be fixed. Chelsea went on to score two more. England were losing badly at the cricket so that the series against South Africa would be drawn. The switch from Football to Opera this winter was proving a great decision. The judgement and wisdom of age.
I arrived at the Theatre just after five pm having had to produce my travel pass during the journey at a checking purge at Gateshead. One young passenger immediately owned up that he was travelling without a ticket and was sent off the train to see the Inspector. There was a similar gathering of ticket checkers at the Monument station exit.
There was a dozen people at the box office, going to cinema showings, collecting previously ordered tickets or hoping for last hour returns. I went to the toilet, found that the cafe restaurant on the second floor and the bar on the fourth were full with standing room only and made my way to the first floor where opposite the entrance to the Classic Circle there was a screen showing Newsreels. The Tyneside Theatre opened in 1937 as a Newsreel theatre. At the time there were about 40000 cinema seats in the greater Newcastle 40 theatres until the arrival of Daily Television broadcasting in the 1950’s. The news reel theatre had a feature programme of sport, educational and interest documentaries, including cartoons. In addition to the News there were usually four other films per programme, one on sport, a travelogue, on some household activity and a cartoon. Before TV the only way to see news was through the news reels which were also shown in between the main and second feature film in standard theatres. This was also at a time of the continuous performance. You could purchase a ticket at noon when the theatre opened and sit through to when the Queen was played at the closing watching the highlights of a football or cricket game over and over and over again. People also entered and left the shows in the standard theatres during a performance and as we went in early this was after the B picture had commenced but we did not always stay for the next showing. Because the standard theatres, the Odeon’s, the Grenada’s, The Gaumont’s and the smaller independent showed USA and British films it was left to some of the News Theatre to begin to show films produced by European countries, mainly France, Italy and some from Spain, and Ingmar Bergman. This is how the Tyneside Film Theatre developed.
As previously mentioned I had seen a production of Carmen live during my childhood with scenery painted backcloth. In 1954 Otto Preminger updated the story to Afro America with Harry Belafonte playing a recruit providing guard duty at a Parachute making factory during World War II. The film is based on an Oscar Hammerstein II 1943 musical using the music of Bizet. Carman, played by Dorothy Danbridge, works at the factory and gets into a fight with the co worker who has reported her for being late. Joe is told by a Sgt to convey Carmen to the authorities much to the dismay of his girl friend, Cindy Lou, who has come to factory to say she will marry him on his next leave.
The wanton Carmen sets out to seduce Joe to gain her freedom and her effort intensifies when he initially rejects her advances. He wakes after spending the night together when their vehicles ends up in a river to find a note from her saying sorry that she is not going to jail but she loves him. Joe is locked in the stockade for allowing his prisoner to escape and matters get worse when Cindy Lou leaves him in anger after arriving to find a rose from Carmen being delivered to him. Carmen gets work in a local night club to await for the release of Joe and in the film Pearl Bailey sings an exciting number Beat Out that Rhythm on a drum. Joe Adams plays Husky Miller a prize fighter who arrives at the club with his entourage, takes a fancy to Carmen and tries to buy her attention with gifts but she ignores his advances.
When Joe is released from prison and visits Carmen her response makes him feel his imprisonment has been worthwhile but he is then summoned away to attend flying school. Carmen is incensed and shows her disapproval by accepting an invitation from Joe‘s Sgt to go off with him. This anger’s Joe and he fights the Sgt. Realising he will get a long prison sentence for this and Joe flees to Chicago with Carmen where they rent a small room and Carmen goes in secret to seek money from the Boxer to enable her and Joe to survive. When Joe persists in wanting to know how she managed to obtain the groceries bought with the cash, she goes off again, to the Hotel suite of the fighter accompanied by friends. She uses cards to tell her fortune and this reveals her premature death. She responds to this news by indulging in an orgy of drink and sex portrayed only by inference given the era when the film was made.
Cindy Lou arrives in search of her fiancée and then Joe arrives and threatens to get into a fight with the Boxer. Carmen helps him to escape but she has become attached to the boxer. Joe finds her on the day of the big fight and pleads with her to return to him. She refuses and tells him to kill her or let her go. He strangles her in a moment of jealous a passion just as the police arrive to arrest him for desertion.
Preminger met considerable opposition to getting the funding for the project and eventually was forced to accept several constraints when it was realised he intended to follow the original story portraying a woman with no morals and without moralising about her behaviour. Preminger also had misgivings about the casting of Dorothy Danbridge who herself had doubts but was persuaded by the Director who then commenced to have an affair with her! Although Dorothy and Harry Belafonte both sang, Carmen Jones is an operatic musical and therefore their voices were dubbed by Marilyn Horne and Le Verne Hutcherson. The film had very mixed reviews with some feeling that the contemporary story was at odds with the music of grand opera, and others that too many compromises had been made to appease a still racist and segregated United States. I have the original Long Play record with titles such as Lift em up and Put em down, You talk just like my Maw. Dere’s a cafe in de corner! My CD version of the Opera has Regine Resnik as Carmen and Joan Sutherland as Micaela
Because of uncertainty about my ability to cope with the performance in theatre, on Saturday morning I watched the only video version on the Metropolitan Opera i player reading the available information beforehand. As with many works when the opera opened in Paris is was denounced by the majority of the critics and there was a move to end its run in the first week, but survived the attacks to complete 48 performances. The young composer then died a few months later aged 37 unaware that the opera was to be hailed a triumph when it was performed in Austria later in the year but after which only gradually became one of the most popular and best loved operas around the world.
The opera is set in Seville, Spain in 1830 where Michaela a village maiden comes to the city to find her fiancée Don Jose, a corporal working at the Guard House but is yet to come on shift. She is approached by the soldiers and runs away to turn later. Don Jose arrives with the change of guard whose ritual is imitated by street children, thus providing opportunity for talented youngsters from stage schools to appear in a major opera production. He is dedicated soldier eager to impress and be a credit to his mother who lives in the same village as Micaela. The couple appear to be well suited and devoted to each other.
Don Jose’s period of duty coincides with the emergence of women from the cigarette factory for smoking break where they are greeted by their admirers. Last to emerge is Carmen, a beautiful young gypsy woman with a reputation for taking lovers but discarding them as quickly if they do not live up to her expectations or if she finds someone who interests her more. She likes to be the centre of attention and reacts when Don Jose shows no interest in her. When they return to work Micaela arrives with a letter from the mother of Don Jose and before they part it is agreed that they will marry soon.
After she has left there are cries with the factory and Carmen and been fighting another worker who slashes her across the. The officer of the watch arrests Carmen and places her in the custody of Don Jose while he writes a warrant for her to be conveyed to prison. Carmen makes a play for Don Jose, offering herself and he unties her hands so with the help of the other girls she is able to escape when the officer returns with the completed warrant, This is sufficient for Don Jose to be punished by being restricted to barracks. This ends the first act.
A month has passed when Act 2 opens and Carmen and her friends sing and dance at an Inn where the customers include the officer of Don Jose’s watch and he invites Carmen and her friends to go with him to the theatre. She is committed to Don Jose who she knows was released the previous day. The Bullfighters are in town and the most famous is Escamillo the Matador who flirts with Carmen after singing the famous Toreador(collective description for all classes of bullfighters) song. Carmen does not reject him in the same way as the officer saying he should not dream of being hers, with the caveat for the time being.
Then smugglers arrive trying to enlist Carmen and the other girls to participate in the selling of contraband they have smuggled from Gibraltar. Carmen rejects the offer startling everyone by saying she is love. I know something about smuggling and Gibraltar because when my birth and care mothers, their sisters and brothers were growing up before during and immediately after the First World War smuggling was practiced by almost the entire resident population of Gibraltar and the equal number of Spanish workers who crossed back and forth across border with Spain every day. One of the uncles was able to run about the rock in a chauffer driven car from the early gambling slot machines and the smuggling which he encouraged several of his sisters to participate in. Then it was citizens black economy more than hierarchical organised crime which came with the trade in illegal drugs in the last quarter of the 20th century.
The other aspect worth mentioning is that Spain was and remains, but to less extent, a country where Roman Catholicism is the religion of the overwhelming majority with pre war the then the peasant and lower middle class population practicing a simple and devout religion and where the Spanish practised a social code where unmarried women would not be left in the presence of males who were not relatives without a chaperon. Carmen would have been exceptional, even among Gypsy women.
Jose enters the opera again before the smugglers leave and they urge her to bring him along on the enterprise. Jose returns the gold coin she sent him while in custody and she orders fruit and wine to celebrate his releases and dances with her friends for him. All appears well until the retreat is sounded for the soldiers to return to barracks and Jose makes to go off. This is not what Carmen wants and alleges that Jose does not love her. He respond with the Flower song showing that he kept the flower which she also sent to him in jail. She begs him to leave the army and enjoy the freedom she experiences. Just when it looks that he will not desert his officer arrives in search of Carmen and Jose draws his sword but before they can fight the smugglers re-enter and disarm them and the officer is made a prisoner. Everyone including the Don Jose is forced to then flee or be imprisoned.
This is when the interval usually takes place. I had felt the need to cough just as the performance commenced. I had bought a small glass of wine, although technically it was a plastic cup. and was able to take a series of sips and with water this cleared without making me feel uncomfortable or affecting the enjoyment of others, In fact I quickly noticed that others has a more disturbing problems although overall there was very little theatre. I was so pleased with my ability to cope with the first part that I bought a second glass of Merlot with a small tub of salted peanuts, remembering to use my Friend’s Card to gain a discount.
The third Act is described as a wild and deserted rocky place where the smugglers are travelling with the contraband and Carmen has already tired of her latest lover because he is at heart a village lad. The gypsy women read the cards and then Carmen looks for her future and that of Don Jose and the cards foretell that they both will have premature deaths. The role of the girls is to charm the customs officers and they leave Jose to guard the contraband. This provides the opportunity for Micaela to reappear having followed in search of her fiancée and is determined to take Jose away from the influence of Carmen. Then Escamillo the Toreador also arrives in search of Carmen and he tells Don Jose that the gypsy has become infatuated with a soldier, not realising that Jose was the man. Jose still jealous because of Carmen’s behaviour towards him challenges the bullfight, but the man resists until provoked further when he disarms the soldier, leaving him saying his trade is to kill bulls, not men. Don Jose starts to fight again but the Smugglers return and disarm Jose. The Bullfighter invites them to attend his next bullfight in Seville.
In the fourth Act the scene is outside the bullring on the opening day of the latest contest. This provides the opportunity for the full procession of the bullfighters and leading personalities of the town to march in procession-, the cuidrilla. I have attended one Bullfight in Barcelona, leaving at half time because I had seen enough of the ritual slaughter of the bulls. My prejudices were more than confirmed because the various levels of bullfighter are given every possible protection and bulls are medicated to ensure while they put up a performance they offer little risk as they are ceremonial tortured to death. Their is no honour in the activity which is worse than fox hunting. There are three matadors who each fight two bulls and each has six assistants, two Picadores, men on padded horses who pick at the bulls with lancers, three Banderilleros who push sharp pointed sticks into the bull and the sword holder who hands the killing weapon to the Matador when the bull is ready for the kill. The group procession into the arena where they salute the presiding dignitaries who are accompanied by the other social dignitaries of the town and visiting celebrities, friends and families of the bullfighters. The costumes are flamboyant. The so called fight has thee stages where the bull is tested by the use of the cape by the Matador and his walking assistants. The second stage is those on horses and where until the 1930 when the padding was introduced more horses were killed by the bulls than the bulls themselves. The purpose is to disable the bull to reduce the danger in the final stage. At this stage the banderilleros each attempt to plant two of pointed sticks into the shoulders of the bull. There is a loss of blood from these attacks. Finally the matador enters with the sword hidden in the cape. The whole notion of red the flag to a bull is nonsense as bulls are colour blind and the use of red is to mask the flow of blood from the wounded bull.
The crowd then participate by signalling their approval or disapproval of the performance by waving of white handkerchiefs in which instance the Matador may be reward by one or two of the bulls ears and in some areas with the tail for an exceptional performance. Equally if the crowd like the bull they will call for its life to be saved in which instance it returns to its ranch to stud and does not participation in any further bullfight. This crowd participation is reminiscent of the Roman crowd and the gladiatorial contests.
There are bull fights where the bull is not physically injured and where the team are dressed normally and who performs are acrobatics without the use of the cape. The men work as a team without the status distinctions and compete for points against the other teams. There are variations in different countries, Portugal where it is now illegal to kill the bull in an arena, France and in Latin America.
There was marked difference in how the procession was treated in the 1997 and 2010 Metropolitan productions. In 1997 the participants were in their full historical finery with the Picadores astride real horses whereas on Saturday the approach was to wear casual clothes, no horses and no visible instruments of torture and death. The emphasis was on raunchy sex instead and more on that in a moment. The procession provide the opportunity for a second appearance of the street children and everyone leaves the stage for the closing moments. In the 1997 production Carmen is transformed into a Spanish lady and consort of Escamillo. Before she enters the stadium she is told that Don Jose has also come to the city and her friends warn her to be on her guard. Carmen being Carmen and aware of what the cards foretold goes in search of her former lover to persuade him to let her go. She was born free and wishes to remain free. Don Jose pleads with her in one of the most moving solos in all opera. Carmen maintain her position and tell him to kill her or let her go. In his desperation, jealousy and hate he kills her but is then horrified by what he has done and he makes no attempt to flee before he is apprehended knowing his life has also ended.
The opera had been performed and recorded by all the great opera singers with in my life time Victoria de los Angeles, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry Marilyne Horner, Jessye Norman and Angela Gheorghiu, together with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, More recently the role of Don Jose has been made his own by Roberto Alagna until recently the husband of Angela Gheorghiu who made a recording together in 2003. In 1997 Angela played the part of Micaela and was to have returned to Met as Carmen in this year’s production with her husband in the role of Don Jose. They have now parted and Angela withdrew from the production as a consequence.
Because of my uncertainty the decision to watch the 1997 production did not reduced the impact of 2010 performance in the evening. Carmen was played in 1997 by Waltraud Meir the international German Soprano and mezzo soprano who although 46 at the time had a reputation as an actress performer and was very convincing as an experience woman with many previous lovers who could attract the attention of most men she encountered and confidently expected to remain in control of the relationship for as long as she wished. I once visited a tourist nightclub in Athens in Greece at which the female singer has perfected the art of getting all the men to focus on her irrespective of whether they were there with their partners and regardless of the feelings of the partners. She selected a victim to pretend to flirt and seduce and then discard leaving him looking foolish. Sitting at the same table was a well built mature German gentleman, with his equally formidable looking wife and the actress singer made a bee line to attract his interest as soon as she noted his indifference which from my perspective bordered on contempt and she tried to engage his attention more than once but she was ignored which only appeared to make her more determined.
Whereas in the 2010 production Carmen, Elina Garanca performed this role in very physical way, Meir’s performance was achieved by looks and gestures. Elina is a younger performer with a sexy voice as well as body, in part achieved from being a mezzo-soprano, born 1976 in Latvia.
Placido Domingo remains the most outstanding operatic performer of his generation from what I have experienced todate and this includes Pavarotti but not Carreras who I am yet to see in a full operatic role. It is the number and range of the roles undertaken that impresses together with his constant ability to communicate the deepest emotions and role credibility even when there is a mismatch between his actual age and that of the part. However in terms of Carmen, Roberto Alagna, born Paris of a Sicilian family takes the honours because he is more convincing as a young man from a Spanish village out of his depths when confronted by a woman such as Carmen. In part this was because of differences in the production with that of 1997 putting the emphasis Done Jose strutting confidently around in an impressive uniform whether as a soldier or Smuggler. Both were brilliant at communication their desperation at being reject by Carmen for Escamillo at the end. The role of Micaela is a difficult one because while a chaste girl from the village she has to cope with the advances of the soldiers at the city guard house and also be able to travel on her own in search of her fiancée all the way from Servile to Gibraltar in the days before public transport where travel would have been by donkey if not on foot. In 1997 the role was performed by Gheorghiu.
The other observation to be made that while Carmen is full of glorious music it does not have the same power as Il Travatore, Butterfly from dramatic moments but continues to stand alongside Aida from those seen in relay with only Turandot lacking the overall impact of the others.
Sitting next to me was a man of a similar generation who engaged in conversation, asking if this was my first experience and this led to talking about my other recent experiences including the disappointment over the contract not being taken up by Cineworld. He provided the information that Cineworld has taken out a new contract with Covent Garden which led to checking the Internet site on return. The only anxiety is the note tbc. This will compensate for the new Odeon at Metrocentre not indicating participation in the relays at this stage. The man had gone there to view Avator in 3D Imax. I had planned to follow this piece immediate with my reactions to the Wallander but on reflection Wallander merits separate consideration.
