Carmen, Seattle Opera

Seattle Opera ends its season with a crowd favorite: Carmen! Bizet’s music is well known, even if you don’t know you know it. A first-time viewer will exclaim, “Oh, that’s where that music is from” many times. The beautiful score is full of catchy melodies, with a well-known aria in every act.  Carmen has it all: Drama! Love! Tragedy! Scandal! All focused around a complex main character, whose motivations are unclear. Is Carmen an unrepentant femme-fatale, careless with her power over men? Or is Carmen just a beautiful woman, who can make mistakes like anyone, and doesn’t owe anybody anything?

In this production, Carmen is played by two performers. I saw Sasha Cooke, and her voice was amazing. A powerful mezzo-soprano with a voice that could carry. In the beginning I was unsure where the show as going with its Carmen. In the first act, when Carmen sings the famous aria Habanera, the audience needs to believe that Carmen can make all the men lose their heads over her.  I didn’t quite buy it, and I don’t think the costuming did Carmen any favors here, but that’s opera.  Sometimes you just have to accept the premise.

At the end of Act I, Carmen gets into some trouble with the law, and she makes the fateful decision to use her wiles on Don José, who, in love, allows her to escape jail. I really liked the evolution of Don José throughout the show. Again, you have to accept the premise, that he throws his life away for Carmen, but once Don José commits, he commits. And his deteriorating clothes and appearance through the show mirror his mental state. At the start, I really felt for Don José, who isn’t the brightest, but as the show goes on, feelings shift, and I really felt for Carmen. Should her entire life be dragged down by this mess of a man because of one fateful decision? When the inevitable conclusion happens, it is just tragic all around. Which is true opera!

Special call outs to the performers of Escamillo, the toreador who steals Carmen’s affections, and Micaëla, the sweet and devoted girl from home who keeps trying to pull Don José away from Carmen’s criminal clutches. They had less time on stage but had really stand out voices that sold their characters.

Carmen is a very long show, clocking in at 3 hours and 27 minutes, including two 30 minute intermissions. But it is worth it for the wonderful music. You can see it on various dates through May 17.