18 Downtown News
September 30, 2013
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
Classic Opera Gets a Dose of Sexy Intelligence ‘Carmen’ Sings and Zings When Patricia Bardon Takes the Stage By Marc Porter Zasada h, Carmen: It’s the perfect mix of realism and the exotic, with a heroine audiences both love and fear. Yet for all the sets, costumes, dancers, toreadors and hummable melodies, everything depends on finding a mezzo-soprano with the right stuff. Overplay Carmen as an iconic seductress and the whole thing becomes a cartoon. Underplay the hormones and the show is a mere cautionary tale about avoiding gypsy women. Fortunately, L.A. Opera has the right fit in Patricia Bardon, who plays the title role in the show that opened Sept. 21 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown. It continues through Oct. 6, with performances this week on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Bardon’s Carmen is no floozy. Instead, she’s a mysterious and commanding force of nature, the embodiment of freedom and the exotic with a hefty dose of sexy intelligence. The story in Frenchman Georges Bizet’s 1875 work is simple. Carmen is a free-spirited gypsy who brings on the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who deserts both the military and his sweet fiancée, Micaëla. Carmen so loves freedom that she briefly abandons the city of Seville for a smuggler’s life in the mountains, dragging the half-willing Don José along, only to dump him for a dashing toreador. On opening night the overture and first act were a tad uncertain: The proceedings on the set from Teatro Real of Madrid were a trifle stiff, and the famous precision of the L.A. Opera chorus seemed to have gone a bit astray. Ten minutes in, one felt that perhaps the orchestra hadn’t had enough rehearsal time with the busy Plàcido Domingo, who at 72 is remaking his career from legendary tenor to guest conductor (L.A. Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon conducts three
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beautiful and compelling, if perhaps insufficiently wild. Valentin Anikin was a perfectly capable Zuniga, Don José’s commanding officer who is also, of course, smitten with Carmen. The reliable Hae Ji Chang was a serviceable Frasquita. But as with all the men on stage, they’re destined to stand in the shadow of Bardon’s Carmen. Carmen runs through Oct. 6 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-8001 or laopera.com.
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Patricia Bardon plays the title character and Brandon Jovanovich is Don José in L.A. Opera’s season opening Carmen. It runs through Oct. 6 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013 6–10 PM Enjoy a free evening of art, music and entertainment as Pasadena’s most prominent arts and cultural institutions swing open their doors. PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS Alliance Française de Pasadena / ARC Pasadena / Armory Center for the Arts / Art Center College of Design / artWORKS Teen Center / Boston Court Performing Arts / Kidspace Children’s Museum / Lineage Performing Arts Center / MUSE/IQUE / Norton Simon Museum / Offramp Gallery / One Colorado / Pacific Asia Museum / Pasadena City College / Pasadena Museum of California Art / Pasadena Museum of History / Pasadena Central Library / Side Street Projects FREE SHUTTLES Free shuttles, running 6–10 p.m., will loop throughout the evening with stops at each venue. ARTS BUS Pasadena ARTS Route 10 runs along Colorado and Green Street until 8 p.m. cityofpasadena.net/artsbus. METRO GOLD LINE Take Gold Line to Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. More info at metro.net. ARTNIGHT BICYCLE TOURS For more information, visit cicle.org. artnightpasadena.org facebook.com/artnightpasadena For information on ArtNight, please call the ArtNight Pasadena Hotline at 626.744.7887 or visit artnightpasadena.org. For information on accessibility and/or to request written materials in alternative formats, please call the City of Pasadena at 626.744.7062. Para más información en español, visite nuestra página del internet: artnightpasadena.org.
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performances during the run). Carmen kicked into gear when Bardon strode on stage. Alas, the gypsy did not have a worthy adversary in Brandon Jovanovich’s Don José. Jovanovich has a fine, clear tenor, but was too milquetoast to believe that Carmen would have any interest in him, or find any devilry in him to inspire. His performance finally picked up steam in the cataclysmic fourth act when the torture of his soul became compelling, but until that point he was a bit too much Carmen’s fool. Thiago Arancam, who is building a global reputation as Don José, takes over for the Oct 1 and 4 performances. Handsome bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, who thrilled as Don Giovanni last season, is usually a reliable and potent source of testosterone onstage, but on opening night he seemed a bit off his game as Escamillo, the strutting toreador who, like everyone she meets, falls instantly in love with Carmen. D’Arcangelo has plenty of power and finesse, however, and will likely find his mojo in later performances. Carmen has two great Act I arias, “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle,” a habanera on the untamable soul of love; and the seguidilla, in which she sings of dance and passion in a gypsy tavern. Although the works have been undertaken by every great mezzo, and each has applied her particular talents, Bardon managed to find something fresh and compelling. Her voice was ably accented here by the work of Domingo, who found his passion. Still, the musical highlight came in Act III when soprano Pretty Yende, playing Micaëla, sang “Je dis que rien ne m’epouvante.” She rendered the great aria with an exquisite mix of strength and tenderness. The young soprano, who won Domingo’s international Operalia contest in 2011, possesses an artistic sincerity that shines through. She is clearly one to watch. The gypsy dancers, as choreographed by Nuria Catejón, were