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Synopsis Carmen Jones is the musical adaptation and update of Bizet's operatic score for Carmen, with an African-American setting. Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the book and dialogue, and the music, which is essentially Bizet's original score, was re-orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett. Carmen Jones originally premiered in New York in 1943, running for over 500 performances. The show has not been seen in London for fifteen years. The Royal Festival Hall production will boast a cast of soloists, chorus, actors and dancers, as well as a symphony orchestra of sixty players. The performances will be shared equally between the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia. Royal Festival Hall
I saw this on 28 August and was deeply disappointed! If it had not been for Brenda Edwards it would have been an almost total loss for me. This Carmen (Ms Maswangany)had no allure and less voice, perhaps she was starting to come down with the throat problem mentioned elsewhere. Joe couldn't decide whether to sing baritone or with a head voice in limp imitation of the movie soundtrack and Cindy Lou, much appreciated elsewhere I know, reminded me of a very annoying cheer leader with a chipmunk voice.
My main problem was with the pointless tinkering of Jude Kelly. No one in Castro's Cuba would put on a musical extolling the US war effort, Carmen would either have worn knickers or not and it was pointless titilation to get her to put them on for work in front of us and to 'cut' the wonderful Ms Edwards remaining music - she SHOULD have been one of Carmen's side kicks not, as I presume, Billie Pasta which was the only interpretation I could put on what she was asked to do - what a difference her ballsy sound would have made to the thin rendition of the Chicago Train number, but perhaps that would have shown up even further the lack of tone provided by the 'star'. - K McD
04 Sep 07
Despite the magnificence of the refurbishment, the Festival Hall remains a concert venue and is not suited to staged musicals / operas. There is no frame for the set or the actors, not helped here by the bizarre decision to locate the orchestra in a huge pit in the middle of the stage, and the acoustics appear to have barely improved. Of course Carmen Jones is still very much an opera, despite the updating to an African-American setting but this does mean that, although the singing is wonderful, much of the lyrics (libretto) are indecipherable (one of the exceptions being the decidedly non-operatic Brenda Edwards). Tsakane Valentine Maswangany sizzles as Carmen Jones, particularly in the first half, but Jude Kelly's pedestrian direction drains al the passion away reducing the tragic ending to a damp squib. Despite these criticisms it was wonderful to hear Bizet's magnificent score played with such dynamism by the Philharmonia. - David baxter
02 Sep 07
The reviews for this seem rather unfair. Though I'm not sure I see the point of the Latin American 'intrusion', there was much to enjoy - a full symphony orchestra, terrific ensemble, great choeography, the most believable sexiest Carmen ever and the gorgeous singing if the actress playing Cindy. The cast, conductor and orchestra's (!) enthusiasm was infectious and we should be thanking Jude Kelly and Raymond Gubbay for such a good production of a populist piece on the South Bank - Gareth James
17 Aug 07
Our view was “is it an opera, or is it a musical”. It seemed to fall between the two stools - some formal singing, but also some informal singing and dancing. Neither my wife nor I thought it worked that well. It would be interesting to see the original film with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte (I think!) to see what kind of chemistry they generated. This one was ok to see, but wasn’t exceptional, and I think they should have been taking a lot more risks and updating it far more than they did.
The music and the venue were great though (I like the RFH even though it’s not as comfortable as the Barbican).
- Ian C
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