Blocking is said to be based on an original staging manual. As in Rouen, though, characterizations and interactions have been coached, with mixed success, by stage director Romain Gilbert.<\/p>\n
What we think of as the quintessentially Spanish opera was composed by a Frenchman, to a French libretto. Modern performances have often been done with conversations sung to recitatives composed after Bizet\u2019s death by his friend Ernest Guiraud. <\/p>\n
But the Dallas Carmen is done, as conceived and originally performed, with spoken dialogue \u2014 although not much is used. Supertitle translations leave many lines untranslated.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Opera has had a recent run of great productions. This one, at least on opening night, was more hit and miss. Subsequent performances will probably improve.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
![\"Soloists](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/LMPF6NVYL5D43IYTAXJOD6J3OE.jpg\")
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Two of the evening\u2019s finest voices came in secondary roles. Laureano Quant\u2019s Zuniga and Eleomar Cuello\u2019s Moral\u00e8s both served up handsome, well appointed baritones.<\/p>\n
Marina Viotti\u2019s Carmen looked more Highland Park glamorous than earthily enchanting. But her fine, soprano-ish mezzo was alternately seductive and scathing as needed. Saimir Pirgu was the ardent, and increasingly unhinged, Don Jos\u00e9, with a powerfully sinewy tenor that could shade down for intimacies. In a French opera, though, as opposed to Italian, I yearned for a bit more vulnerability, more elegance.<\/p>\n
Gihoon Kim\u2019s Escamillo had a solid, creamy baritone, but it dried out too much in lower register, and he was never quite believable as a dashing toreador. The role of sweet Mica\u00ebla wanted tones less edgy than Teresa Perrotta\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Diana Newman and Kristen Choi were vivid presences, with fine voices, as, respectively Frasquita and Merc\u00e9d\u00e8s. Kyle Miller sang well as the feisty smuggler Danca\u00efre, with Matthew Goodheart a capable Remendado.<\/p>\n
Who knows what the actual acting was like in 1875? But here some of the pawings at attempted seductions, and some choral flailings, seemed overdone. Carmen\u2019s death in Don Jos\u00e9\u2019s arms wasn\u2019t convincing.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Opera Chorus, prepared by Paolo Bressan, sang splendidly when tempos weren\u2019t too pressed. The Greater Dallas Choral Society supplied a boldly projected children\u2019s chorus that was just rowdy enough.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Opera Orchestra has been sounding superb in recent seasons, thanks to work by music director Emmanuel Villaume. But on Friday Villaume launched the opening Prelude at a tempo that had the orchestra scrambling, and it sounded more frantic than exhilarating at each subsequent appearance. (Surely its tempo should be set by the ensuing pre-echo of \u201cToreador, en garde.\u201d) <\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
![\"Pianist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760853314_525_ICTYYWM4UFFPDKIHR4ZYQI6OTE.jpg\")
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On the other hand, the flute-and-harp entr\u2019acte before Act 3 was strangely lifeless. It didn\u2019t help that the evening\u2019s full and audibly enthusiastic audience kept talking through much of it. But Katie Wolber supplied a beautiful horn solo to introduce Mica\u00ebla\u2019s \u201cJe dis que rien ne m\u2019\u00e9pouvante.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details<\/p>\n