This is California, after all, so it's understandable that there is no
smoking on the stage in the San Francisco Opera's summer-season opening
"Carmen."

The ladies once identified in the English synopsis of an Italian opera
house as the "revolting cigaret-makeresses" simply fondle their
death-sticks, but do not light them.

The chorus tonight might have been happy about the (relatively) clean air
in the War Memorial, but there was a little untoward symbolism involved
here as well.

Where there is no smoke, there is no fire - and there wasn't, really,
on stage.  What we had was a largely solid production, with good things
happening, a few bad ones, but it was truly a "Carmen" without fire. . .
which is rather unfortunate.

In the title role, Marina Domashenko embodied the tone of the production.
Attractive, charming, with an impressive, large mezzo, she performed on
an even keel (a plus, of course) but never hitting the many climaxes the
role calls for.  Domashenko presents a very nice Carmen, both vocally and
theatrically - although a few times, her rather inward-turned voice rang
out brilliantly, with true high notes few mezzos can sustain.  The over-all
effect, however, was a cute kitten, not the menacing tigress one may expect
from the Gypsy temptress.

Domashenko's debut reminded local audiences of Olga Borodina's bow
here - not so much the voice, which is quite different, but Borodina's
placid performance in "La Cenerentola." Domashenko is much more lively
and interesting, but what she did not show tonight was Borodina's
transformation, under Lotfi Mansouri's direction, in her chair-throwing,
lion-taming Carmen in the Civic Auditorium.

The director this time is Grischa Asagaroff; wisely, he stayed with most
of the original Jean-Pierre Ponnelle-Kurt Adler production, welcomed here
for a mind-boggling 21st year.  Ponnelle's fabulous sets hold up well even
after all those years.

This being the first opera presented by the new Pamela Rosenberg regime,
staging was carefully watched for signs of hectic, over-busy direction.
It didn't happen, with a few minor exceptions, but something else, rather
strange took place.

It's been a long time that I've seen in San Francisco an entire opera
sung to the audience, virtually nothing taking place between the characters.
Time and again, the singer stood front and center, singing out to the
house.  In fact, the last time I saw something like this was in Stuttgart,
with Rosenberg's previous company.  This is really confusing: on the one
hand, what she is bringing from Europe is a statement against "static
opera," but at the same time, what can be more static than singing to the
audience - even if there is a gang-rape going on upstage (no, not in this
"Carmen," thank goodness).  This being Production No. 1, we'll have plenty
of time to figure out what's in store.

Sparks were flying from the orchestra at the beginning, Marcello Viotti's
local debut on the podium getting a great start.  For the rest of the
evening, the orchestral performance was consistently fine, Viotti paid
special attention to the chorus, getting good results, but the balance
went wrong through large stretches of the music, not quite overwhelming
the singers, but forcing them into a competition.

There was a good number of San Francisco debuts, with widely varying
results.  Besides Domashenko (who would be very welcome to return, once she
gains some weight - not necessarily in pounds), there was an exciting local
and US debut by Chilean mezzo Mariselle Martinez, who made the relatively
small role of Mercedes a focus of attention.  She has a bright, exciting
voice and stage presence to burn.  Paired with Donita Volkwijn's excellent
Frasquita, Martinez brought life to the joint scenes with Domashenko,
seemingly inspiring the Russian mezzo for her most lively work.

Another Russian newcomer, Denis Sedov, had a terrible night.  It's a good
thing that this Escamillo didn't have to fight a bull because just facing
the audience freaked him out.  His nervousness - obvious in his shaky,
uncertain movements - overtook his voice and the Toreador Song soon
dissolved into strangled sounds.  He got through the evening and improved
a bit later on, but judging by tonight, Sedov is not ready for prime time.

Richard Berkeley-Steele's Don Jose was fair at first, fast becoming
middling.  It's not a tenor to write home about and his acting is
consistently sub-par.  Although the diction coaches did well with the
rest of the cast - including the large, very good children's chorus -
Berkeley-Steele's "French" at times reminded one of the Swedish Chef.

Maria Bayo - an exceptional, often great singer - went from a brilliant
first-act Micaela to her third-act aria, which turned out to be Singing
with a capital S and that rhymes with showy, not the kind of musical
performance one expects from her.

In the smaller roles, there were promising performances from young
Opera Center singers, especially Kyu Won Han (Morales) and Brian Anderson
(Remendado); their acting and singing were more effective and accomplished
than those of some of their elders.

Janos Gereben/SF
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