CARMEN Three-act dramatic ballet. Choreography Veronica Paeper. Production Elizabeth Triegaardt. Music Georges Bizet arranged by Michael Tuffin. Original Sets/costumes Peter Cazalet. Set co-ordinator Charles Petersen. Lighting Shamiel Abrahams. Allan Stephenson conducts the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Presented by Cape Town City Ballet. At Artscape Opera House. Until Tuesday. SHEILA CHISHOLM reviews.
GEORGES Bizet’s music for his 4-act opera Carmen, is so popular it’s hard crediting that after its premier in Paris in 1875 critics slated it. These criticisms – as well as opening night lasting over four-and-a-half hours,theatre staff trouble (orchestra members declared the score “unplayable” and the chorus complained music “unsingable”) – led Bizet into believing Carmen a dismal failure.
This, despite personally considering Carmen a work “filled with colour and melody,” sent him into the depression that led to his death, three months later, from a heart attack aged only 37.
Such a pity Bizet never knew time would prove Carmen arguably to be the world’s most frequently performed opera, and possibly the most performed music. Rearranged by Ernest Guirad shortly after Bizet’s death, Carmen is heard not only in its operatic form, but also as pop, jazzed up and electronic versions. Certain arias such as Carmen’s Seguidilla, Don José’s La Fleur Que Tu M’Avais Jetee, Escamillo’s Toreador Song and Micaela’s Je Dis, Que Rien Ne M’Epouvante stand as single recital/ concert CD items.
The man/woman in the street may not know the music’s origins, but can sing, hum or whistle many tunes while going about daily chores.
It’s a tale based on Prosper Mérimée’s ‘torrid’ novella about Carmen – a feisty cigarette factory gypsy, concerned only with satisfying her own sexual desires; Don Jose – a Dragoons corporal blinded by passion which he mistakes for love, and Escamillo – a glamorous bull fighter. It’s a love triangle over which Micaela, Jose’s gentle childhood sweetheart, has no power to prevent a tragic outcome.
Although Bizet never set foot on Spanish soil, and Carmen was rated “an unabashed spectacle of sexuality disguised in the form of Spanish folklore, without any authentic Spanish rhythms and themes” the libretto (by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy) combined with Bizet’s music also finds Carmen a favoured subject among ballet companies. A historical point, Carmen et Son Torero by Marius Petipa is the first recorded ballet, taking place at The Kings Theatre, Madrid (circa 1845). However its not known whose music Petipa used.
Other non-surviving dance works based on Carmen took place in 1897 and 1903. And renowned American ballerina Ruth Page danced Carmen in a piece called Guns and Castanet s in Chicago in the 1930's. However, when French dancer and choreographer Roland Petit’s Les Ballet de Paris premiered Petit’s Carmen– in five scenes – at the Prince’s Theatre London in 1949.
It stunned the ballet world with its blatant sexuality and audacious Antoni Clave costumes. Stripping away gypsy flavour, introducing sensual atypical en de dans(inward) movement and dressing Renee (Zizi) Jeanmaire in skimpy sexy corseted outfits, the prudish public and critics were deeply shocked. But Jeanmaire, opposite Petit as Jose and Serge Perrault as Escamillo, went on to make ballet history with their performance.
In no time at all Petit’s Carmen was taken up by various international ballet companies. To date its been performed over 5000 times.
In 1967 Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya turned to Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso to create a ballet for her based on Carmen. He in turn turned to her husband, Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, to devise a score suitable for ballet, from Bizet’s music. To spawn the now famous Carmen Suite, Shchedrin’s arrangement included new instruments, themes from L’Arlesienne, as well as Massenet’s Le Cid. Using Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite Mats Ek, Sweden’s number one choreographer, choreographed a contemporary dance version in 1992 for Sweden’s Cullberg Ballet Company.
Costumed in Marie-Louise Ekman’s “cartoonesque” designs, Ek tells this woeful tale in flashbacks beginning with Jose facing a firing squad for Carmen’s murder.
Ek used parallel legs, deep pliés à la second and flexed feet to characterise Carmen as a cigar-smoking individualist in ways more male than female. Ek considered Jose a wimp, Escamillo “brassy” while Micaela symbolised fate and feminine ideals.
Many other versions exist by choreographers as diverse as John Cranko (Stuttgart Ballet); Richard Alston (Scottish Ballet) as well as Davide Bombana (National Ballet of Canada).
Not many seeing Veronica Paeper’s Carmen version, presently presented by Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) at Artscape Opera, are conversant with the above. Yet it is important to note Paeper’s account rates highly alongside these others. Her choreographic gifts lie in her ability to unfold, in classical idiom, this drama in a way that holds attention throughout. Remarkably, after 28 years, Paeper’s choreography hasn’t dated.
Her pas de deux, while still testing partnering and technical skills by complex lifts and presages, aren’t acrobatic feats. Rather movements all relate to story development. Described as an “honest” choreographer Paeper never engages in “padding.” Neither has she dictated interpretations. Wisely leaving space for principals to define their own characterisations.
In this Michael Tuffin music arrangement assisted her. Said Tuffin, “it was a fascinating exercise translating vocal music to orchestral and choosing the most apt solo instruments to suit the story line. But it was necessary to incorporate other music including parts from Bizet’s The Fair Maid of Perth.”
Tuffin’s arrangement is thoroughly danceable and, apart from some wobbly castanet playing, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, under Allan Stephenson’s baton, excelled... special compliments to brass and wind players.
Unfortunately too often “squeaky clean” corps work prevented the music’s dramatic power matching stage action.
This wasn’t helped by CTCB’s reduced numbers. When Paeper choreographed Carmen the company boasted over 60 dancers. So hats off to Elizabeth Triegaardt for courageously producing Carmen with half that number. But these small numbers put a damper on energy variation in crowd, gypsy and smuggler scenes.
Laura Bosenberg as Carmen, opposite Thomas Thorne as Jose, interpreted Carmen more as a coy, sulky, spoilt wench than a sultry, sexy gypsy. Technically up-to-the- mark, it took Bosenberg to her final fight with Jose, outside the bull- ring, to portray Carmen as the free-spirited woman she was – determined to make her own destiny. Thorne drew a splendid portrait of Jose trapped between religious upbringing, duty, blind passion and blinder jealousy.
Neat, crisp footwork, clean-cut triple pirouettes lacking sufficient sex appeal and power behind miming fighting a bull, summarised Jesse Milligan’s Escamillo. Frieda Mennen played Micaela as the virtuous virgin Micaela is. Xola Putye’s Captain Zuniga carried suitable authority, while Tusile Tenza bounced happily around as a Pickpocket (sadly no pickpocket children corps). Among the corps Mariette Opperman and Revil Yon’s energetic enthusiasm stood out. Mervyn Williams, as innkeeper
Lilias Pastia, sprinkled some humour and produced sharp, audible zapateado.
However, the soldier corps need serious drilling to look like a smart bunch of soldiers.
Colourful costumes danced against stark monolithic sets – without the bull-ring balcony – Paeper’s intensely graphic drama unfolds in a manner Bizet would appreciate.
l Tickets from R100, 083 915 8000, 021 421 7695. Cast information, Facebook: Cape Town City Ballet.