Carmen

Last night we went to see "Carmen", by Bizet. I suppose it did not help this performance the fact that I had previously seen it in Bucharest, only recently. But still, I am most happy that I did not fork out the extra $$ to sit closer to the stage. It was a mixed performance, with caucasians and asians thrown into the pot.

I think this particular Carmen was only selected because she came from France and um, spoke French (ms. Sophie Fournier). Otherwise, her high notes were very low, and she sounded like she was an avid smoker. The quire actually had to tone it down a bit at some point because they were covering her. And here was I thinking that the biggest problem we were going to have with this opera was the fact that the French accent was a bit off. And then Carmen started her "Habanera" and I started crying. Even I have more volume than her. The sad part was that the girl playing Michaela, a Singaporean, had a fantastic voice and would have been much more suited than her French counterpart. And then disaster struck...

The toreador, a.k.a the bull-fighter, was a 1.70m and 60kg Chinese!! Mind you, he would have been very fit for a climber, but not for a toreador! I quickly nicknamed him "El Senor Mosquito" for his imposing figure ... and would burst out laughing whenever "El Senor Musquito" would make his appearance on scene. A good indication of how beefy he was is the fact that he never wore any tights at all, which would have been even more hilarious. Ah well .. good part is that at least I have something to bitch about... the singapore performing arts scene is really not that advanced, so every morsel is welcomed.