CARMEN JONES to 2 September 2007
London.
CARMEN JONES
by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Georges Bizet.
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London SE1 8.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed,Sat & Sun 2.30pm.
Runs 2hrs 40 mins One interval.
TICKETS: 0871 663 2500.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Review: Geoff Ambler 8 August 2007.
A Bizet night out with Hammerstein II and an unexpected Latin inferno from Sherry Boone.
Even to the uninitiated, the music of Carmen must be among the most recognisable in opera, and Carmen Jones could enjoy popular audience appeal as an accessible opera. This is the first production in fifteen years and Jude Kelly’s direction, staged around the orchestra, tries to bring Latin American passions to life through a wanton Carmen (Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi), all fiery red dress and endlessly lithe limbs, and her soldier lover Joe (Andrew Clarke), whom she seduces away from his sweetheart Cindy Lou (Sherry Boone) with suitably operatic tragic consequences.
It is with Maswanganyi’s Carmen that the show fails to achieve the fire it strives for and deserves. Adept vocally but lacking passion or excitement, she is an unconvincing seductress and it's the ensemble and other individual pieces that hold the show together. Indeed the music is always a harmonious delight and the book scenes leave you impatient for the next orchestral high, particularly with 'Stan’ up an’ Fight! sung by Husky Miller (Rodney Clarke) which lights up Act One. Clarke, Phillip Browne and John Moabi (Rum and Dink) are impressive whenever they appear, along with Akiya Henry and Andee-Louise Hypolite (Myrt and Frankie), who both excite vocally and inject some necessary humour.
It is Sherry Boone however who stands up and blows the roof off the refurbished Festival Hall. Singing 'My Joe' she stirs a thousand souls and pours fiery passion into a theatre that came to feel heat, eliciting an endless ovation broken only by her eventual next line.
The orchestra, alternating each night between the London Philharmonic (whom I heard) and the Philharmonia, were never less than a delight overcoming any inadequacies the Festival Hall may bring as a theatrical venue, while having the show revolve around them keeps them uniquely involved in the spectacle.
Carmen Jones is a welcome and worthy Festival Hall production with delights aplenty and only a slightly cool Carmen to quell the flames.
Carmen Jones: Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi.
Joe: Andrew Clarke.
Cindy Lou: Sherry Boone.
Husky Miller: Rodney Clarke (Rolan Bell from 28 August).
Frankie: Andee-Louise Hypolite.
Rum: Phillip Browne.
Myrt: Akiya Henry.
Dink: John Moabi.
Pearl: Brenda Edwards.
Morrel: Rolan Bell (Terel Nugent from 28 August).
Sergeant Brown: Joe Speare.
Ensemble: Josie Benson.
Stuart Bowden.
Peter Brathwaite.
Jina Burrows.
Angela Caesar.
Ian Carlyle.
Darren Charles.
Leroy Dias Dos Santos.
Ramon Diaz Crosdale.
Welly Locoh Donou.
Joanna Francis.
Herve Goffings.
Celia Grannum.
Yolanda Grant-Thompson.
Divine Harrison.
George Daniel Long.
Lawrence de Maeyer.
Tania Mathurin.
Ngo Omene Ngofa.
Terel Nugent.
Kelechi Sarah Nwanokwu.
Joanna Risebero.
Tarisha Rommick.
AleSandea Seutin.
Nadine Smith.
Antonio Tengroth.
Jordene Thomas.
Kenny Thompson.
Children:
Malik Benson.
Shamuwn Davis.
Trey Qua.
Kyron Spencer-Benn.
Ramone O’Sullivan.
Rebekah O’Sullivan.
Reuben Alfred-Lecky.
Director: Jude Kelly
Designer: Michael Vale
Lighting: Malcolm Rippeth
Sound: Paul Astbury
Musical Director: John Rigby
Choreographer: Rafael Bonachela
Voice coach: Mary King
Dialect coach: Paula Jack
Fight arranger: Terry King
Assistant director: James Bonas
Associate desgienr: Lucy Wilkinson
Associate musical director: Stephen Higgins
2007-08-13 07:29:37