Carmen, at the ART, is such a mess. But what a wonderful mess. After all, it’s Carmen. And the ART. Beauty, seduction, love, betrayal, and, of course, death all around. Ooops, sorry: that was a spoiler. And the performers? Fantastic acting and “surprisingly slender”, as John carefully put it. He means that mezzo-soprano Christina Baldwin is smoking hot as Carmen. Her sister in the role of Micaela, too. But the monolithic wall is way too fat. John also says that only the ART regularly fails so spectacularly, as they did with contemporary experimentation in Antigone or when they brought volkswagons onstage in Henry V. They take chances no one else around these parts will. Like Mabou Mines did so brilliantly in NY in the ’80’s (do they still?). And so even the mess is the best thing in town. And if your French is rusty, there are subtitles! (Or is that surtitles?) Because it’s all about a timeless story that taps our own experiences. We’ve all been there:
As lovers pursue each other with the dangerous grace of toreadors, morality and desire clash. Betrothed to Micaëla, Don José falls passionately in love with Carmen, a gypsy who works at the local cigarette factory. Spurred on by his desire, Don José soon abets in Carmen’s escape from prison, deserts his army, and collaborates in the eponymous heroine’s smuggling operation in the mountains. Despite Don José’s sacrifices, Carmen begins to tire of her devoted but possessive lover and turns her attention to the bullfighter Escamillo. Don José begs Carmen to return to Seville with him, but she refuses. He responds with a final, violent act of passion.
Don’t they all?
