A night at the opera! Ellen Kent and Opera International has organised this tour to bring opera to the parts of Britain that are starved of reasonably priced cultural entertainment. This time she has brought the Chisinau National Opera to Britain and with their nationalistic interpretation of Carmen. So what of this production sung in French with English surtitles?

A story about a gypsy girl who works in a cigarette factory and devastates the life of an army corporal seems mundane and uninspiring, but with music by Bizet and a libretto by Mailhac all that should change. Alas, this company have brought an unbending, rigid interpretation of Carmen from Moldova. There is no doubting their musicality, but It would seem that not even Nick Hogaths’s direction could blend them into a whole which wanted to be on the stage and give a performance. Most of the cast looked as though they wished to be somewhere else and not performing in York for one performance on a Sunday evening.

Carmen is sung by mezzo soprano Liliana Lavic, but tenor Nicolae Busuioc struggles with the part of corporal Don Jose, both doing their best to drive the story along. Their contact with the bull fighter Escamillo, baritone Petru Racovita and Micaela, superbly sung by soprano Rosa Lee Thomas, give jealousy and intrigues to this established story. The quintet sung by Liliana Lavric, Elena Gherman, Irina Jarchih, Anatol Arcea and Vasile Cheptenari was one of the highlights of the evening. The voices in the chorus are beautifully balanced, but the chorus shuffled off at the end of scenes and stood in lines as if they were giving a concert, not acting on a stage. Throwing their hats into the air and breaking the grim expression on their faces to look pleased with themselves is not acting. What they must do is look as though they are enjoying themselves. The dancers from the Chisinau National Ballet failed to look as though they were enjoying it and certainly did not inject that gypsy fire into their dancing, preferring to look like ballet dancers. After all “Carmen” champagne is red and firey.

Much is made of Felix Bessonov’s set design which is impressive and adaptable, but at times left very few exits to get the large number of people from the stage quickly. The costumes were colourful and complimented the set. The orchestra played well under the baton of Alexandru Samoila, but even they had difficulty in sustaining enthusiasm — the percussionist interpreted the music well.

You could enjoy this opera, but when it was over it left you wondering could it have been done better. Sadly the answer was yes. The audience’s applause at the end was polite, but unsustained, leaving some of the principle singers looking surprised. No encores in this production. © BA

“Carmen” is in York on the 9th of September, 2001 and then continues an extensive tour of Britain.