Living in the Upper Hunter region, I rarely have the opportunity of traveling to Sydney. On the rare occasion when something extra special is on in Sydney I am enticed to make the effort to take the four and a half hour train trip to venture down to this dazzling harbour city.This weekend my wife and I made the train trip to see the open-air opera performance of Carmen on Sydney Harbour.This is the second year that an opera has been presented in this magical setting. Last year La Traviata was presented to sellout crowds.
Usually operas are presented in Opera Theatres, such as the remarkable Sydney Opera House sitting at the end of Circular Quay like yachts moored on the harbour with their sails billowing in the breeze.
This performance of Carmen was different - it was presented on a purpose built temporary floating stage on the waters of Sydney Harbour at Mrs Macquaries Chair. The seating was grandstand style on the shore facing the floating stage.
Prices for seats varied as to their location. We were fortunate to have central seats, but I noticed that those on the lower priced side seating still had excellent views of the stage as there were no side wings of the stage to block the view. The floating stage was raised, as the orchestra was housed underneath it. This large circular stage was sloped from the back to the front which enabled all the singing, dancing and acting to be seen clearly by everyone.
This was the first outdoor performance of any type that I had been to, so I made the necessary preparations of packing the essential items of jacket to keep warm and opera binoculars so I could see the performance. As it turned out I needed neither. The weather was perfect and I could see clearly without assistance.
Carmen is performed by Opera Australia's finest talented singers and dancers, accompanied by world-renowned performers. Not being a regular opera goer I was not familiar with any of the cast names, but I am sure that those who regularly attend opera performances would immediately recognize the names of star studied cast. In this production of Carmen they were brilliant. I will not mention each cast member by name and comment on their wonderful singing, as plenty of other reviews of this production of Carmen are available by people who know more about opera singing than me. All I will say is that all the singing of the soloists and chorus was brilliant and a pleasure to listen to, even though it was all sung in French. To make it easy to understand the songs, the key lines of each song were displayed in LED lighting at the front of the stage in lettering large enough to be seen but not too large to be distracting.
The dancers were magnificent with their energetic movements adding to the atmosphere of the show. The choreography varied from slow subtle movements to fast paced acrobatic routines.
Anyone who thinks that all opera is stuffy and boring should see this production of Carmen to see that this is not the case. Carmen is full of passion, intrigue, romance, lust, vengeance, rivalry. Indeed, some of the scenes in it are quite steamy and saucey.
The music was provided by a wonderful live 40-piece orchestra. It played loudly when the action needed it, and softer in the more intimate parts of the opera. The best part of the sound production was that the music (and singing) appeared to come from the centre of the stage, not amplified from the two sides of the stage as happens in some theatres.The best part of Carmen was its staging. There were no sides to the stage, so the sloping round stage, encircled at times by a large illuminated red ring. provided the base setting. The backdrop consisted of scaffolding and the large illuminated letters of CARMEN. These faced the harbour, so the audience actually saw the back of them. In the last half of Carmen the large illuminated red outline of a bull dominated the back drop.
The props used were large to compliment the large stage. An army tank, truck and shipping container were lowered on to the stage by large cranes. An old car was driven along the walkway in front of the stage. These all added to the spectacle of Carmen.
The lighting was excellent, with the whole stage flooded with light when the entire company was present, or defined spots used in intimate scenes highlighting a couple of the performers. The dominant colors of red and black set the Spanish theme. The fireworks dazzled the night sky with exploding vitality. Spectacular.
The costumes the singers and dancers wore added to the charm of Carmen. They varied from traditional Spanish clothing to glamorous clothing worn in the 1940s. The army uniforms and resistance fighter clothing contrasted with the brighter costumes of the ladies. The star costumes of the show included Carmen's voluptuously feminine final red dress and the set of yellow and black polka dot Paris chic dresses worn for the toreador parade. Different to all these was the purity of Micaela's simple blue dress. Escamillo, the bull fighter, was dressed more like an Elvis rock star with his glittering clothing.
To get to Carmen we took the train to Circular Quay Station and took time to stroll through the picturesque Botanical Gardens to Mrs Macquaries Chair. We arrived in time to buy something to eat from one of the Spanish styled eateries scattered on the the site. We had very reasonably priced $16 and $18 tasty Spanish dishes. My suggestion to anyone else going is to get there early as their is very limed seating and some of the menu choices get sold out early. During interval a tea and coffee were purchased, The coffee was brilliant, the tea was woeful (ie cool, milky, weak and undrinkable). After the performance we joined the long queue for the free shuttle bus to the Domain Carpark and then went on the underground moving walkway to our city hotel.
For more information about Carmen and to purchase tickets go the the website: http://www.operaonsydneyharbour.com.au/
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