Eilzabeth – Two weeks before Venture Opera’s Carmen was set to perform in Brooklyn, word came out they couldn’t use the originally planned venue and had to scramble to find a new home.  Taking it all in stride, Venture quickly moved to a one night performance at the Diamond Horseshoe, former home of the sensual Queen of the Night.  The setting worked out perfectly as guests were greeted by candlelit stairs heading into the space and access to a full bar—it’s always a plus in my book when you can drink during an opera.  A stuffed cheetah and dizzying moving snake patterned wallpaper in the bathroom set the tone for the opera’s themes of love and betrayal with the untamable Carmen.

Venture’s last opera, Don Giovanni, took place at the gorgeous Angel Orensanz, a former synagogue.  They used every nook and cranny of the space and also took advantage of the space’s religious setting in making their Don Giovanni a Catholic priest who has abused his power in an attempt to satisfy his dark desires.  I would have loved to see what else this Carmen could have been like had Venture had more time to explore and use the space.  That said, Carmen, like Don Giovanni this fall, featured amazing talent, terrific energy from the cast and true to its mission, brought high quality opera in a modern setting appealing to new operagoers.  After the show, the audience swarmed the stage to let the cast know how much they loved the opera and more than one person said it was their first opera.

Kirstin Chávez was clearly an experienced Carmen, she felt very comfortable in the role.  She had
an earthy quality to her voice, great energy and terrific acting.  She seemed to enjoy every minute onstage seducing all the soldiers.  Meanwhile Mikayla Sager made her role debut as Micaëla; s
he was the epitome of innocence and gave a sweetly sung and heartfelt performance.

Alok Kumar’s Don José was very effecting.  Kumar’s powerful and gorgeous voice was gripping as the soldier seduced by Carmen and then crazed as she rejects him.  Eugene Villanueva’s Escamillo was also very strong.  His pomp and attitude in his red satin jacket perfectly fit the arrogant toreador adored by Carmen and her friends.  Eric Downs, Leporello in this fall’s Don Giovanni, was back as a very solid Zuniga.

The chorus was great, and full of energy—the women especially stood out as they flirted with audience members when they first came out.  Raquel Suarez-Groen and Shabnam Kalbasi, Frasquita and Mercédès respectively, had exquisite striking voices.  The performance was all the more notable for the lack of props save tables, chairs and a knife.  A screen to the side of the stage held pictures giving the general scene and supertitles.  The supertitles could have been better—they seemed very abbreviated and forced me to dig up my high school French in order to understand every sentence—but gave the general storyline.

Leading the orchestra, the talented Carmine Aufiero drew a lively and strong performance from the orchestra that equaled the singer’s excitement and intensity.  I hope to see more of him at Venture.  Likewise, the audience was buzzing and matched the energy on stage.  Attending the opera were the Met’s Kristine Opolais, other Met singers and first time operagoers.  All seemed to be enjoying themselves.  So I am obviously not alone in my eagerness to see what Venture does next.

 

Shawn –  As in their production of Don Giovanni last November at Angel Orensanz on the Lower East Side, Venture Opera once again managed to make the operatic drama fill the space no matter how cavernous.  This was all more amazing in this production as the venue was shifted from The Garage in Brooklyn to the glitzo-bizarre Diamond Horseshoe in the basement of the Paramount Hotel–former home to the burlesque dinner theatre phantasmagoria Queen of the Night–only 2 weeks ago.   Director Bernard Uzan managed to reset his staging to the Horseshoe and aside from a few minor lighting and supertitle cues everything went off without a hitch.

The only issue I had with the staging was a conceit that for the most part worked.  In a meta-esque gesture the singers not performing sat exposed stage right in character and often reacting to the action onstage.  This was fun and light as they swapped in and out of position as witnesses and actors in the action.  Therein lies my only issue with the production.  Several times characters stage right reacted to action onstage that their characters can’t and don’t know and it did not inform their characterizations when onstage.  Nor could it without rewriting the opera.  So it weakened their acting choices onstage.

For example, Escamillo, sung well by baritone Eugene Villanueva, while sitting off stage right reacts to José attacking Carmen in Act 4 and has to be restrained.  BUT when he enters minutes later at the very end of the opera, another innovation of this production, he is still shocked to find her dying and he does not attack José.  This rang false.  If we see off stage right he has been already been enraged to the point of being restrained, his surprise when entering the center stage and finding Carmen dead and his confusion as to who is to blame makes no sense.  This shoved me back in my seat right at the critical climax of the show.  But overall I very much enjoyed the evening.

Alok Kumar as Don José and Kirstin Chávez as Carmen were particularly strong.  Kumar’s intensity in his descent into jealousy fueled murderous delirium was at times visceral in its effect.  I was in the front row but his ferocity carried to the bar at the other end of the venue I have no doubt.  Eugene Villanueva as Escamillo and Mikayla Sanger in her professional debut as Micaëla also had great showings.  And under conductor Carmine Aufiero’s baton the orchestra bloomed and soared sounding far larger than its 27 pieces.

The originally planned 5 performance run at The Garage in Brooklyn run was condensed into this one night only event at Diamond Horseshoe which could not have been cheap even though Queen of the Night closed this past New Year’s Eve after multiple extensions.  (Tickets for Queen went for as much as $190 and there are plans to move the show to a venue in Hell’s Kitchen.)  For Venture’s Carmen the place was packed. General admission tickets went for $40 though VIP seats at elevated booths around the perimeter of the room were offered for $250.  The big question raised to me by the evening was – is it better for smaller companies to present one big show or a run of smaller ones?  Of course for the performers a longer run is preferable, both artistically and financially, BUT I wonder financially and producerially over all what the answer is.  The final balance sheets would be interesting to read and might be very instructive for other start up opera companies in NYC.

– Elizabeth Frayer & Shawn E Milnes