CARMEN in San Diego

[Sylar2]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 10:45pm

Has anyone seen it? I read some dreadful reviews today. I was really curious about this one so please post details if you've seen it!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 10:49pm

I've not seen it yet. Some friends of mine went on the 15th and loved it, but the whole Cirque du Soleil thing is causing me to loose interest.
Updated On: 6/19/07 at 10:49 PM

[HoshiForever]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 10:53pm

Where in the world..?

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:08pm

Where in the world..?

My exact thoughts.

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:15pm

Yes, I saw it. It is visually stunning but there are some faults. We have been reading the reviews all day here, it is a lot better than the reviews say it is and the audiences are LOVING IT!

[misschung]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:23pm

Cirque du Soleil? I love Carmen, but please no. I hope people post reviews, though because this is one of my favorite shows in the world. Unfortunately I am in NY

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:31pm

so glad I'm not the only one who flashed to the TV Show/Video Game

[vfd88]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:39pm

I thought they were making a musical of Carmen San Diego. Damn.

[srmx5]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:00am

I saw the 2nd preview and it was not so good. I posted my thoughts on the LA Board here on June 7th. Sounds like it has not improved. In this case, I do agree with the critics. Pretty, but it's a mess.

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:17am

It has improved a lot since the second preview, but there are still faults in the production. It is a shame that the critics did not mention any of the good aspects of the productions.

[dented146]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:45am

Clearly, I enjoyed the production much more than the reviewers. I thought the variety and creativity of the Spanish dance was terrific and much of the music quite nice. In my opinion, the sets and lighting were stunning.

I was very surprised by the harshness of the SD Union review. We see many musicals here on their first attempt-Big River,Jersey Boys,The Wiz,Zhivago The Times...etc-the list goes on and on. To me Carmen had a lot of positives even if it was far from perfect. Yet from the Union review you'd think it was the worst thing ever presented in this town.

There is too much of a disconnect between the audience response and the review. That bothers me.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 8:16am

>> it's more of a three-dimensional velvet painting version targeted to the same audience that kept Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida" afloat for more than four years on Broadway despite the numerous critical pans it received

Yikes. Even if it does sound like a triumph of style over substance... still, yikes.

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 11:43am

I saw it last night. I couldn't wait to get out of the theatre. Mainly because the show is overly long. They need to cut a couple of numbers. The program lists 30 numbers. The audience didn't really seem to enjoy it. They applauded after only a few of the songs.

The book and lyrics were my main problems - not very interesting or surprising. They mainly just repeat themselves with rather trite and banal imagery and wording. Here are a few of the song titles, "This Is Not Our Last Goodbye", "Freedom is Now", "This Dance is Not Over", and "I Will Love You Always". If they sound like songs that you have heard before, they pretty much are. Some of the music is lovely, but the orchestrations were overly synthesized. Also, there was way too much bombast in the numbers. My ears got tired of the crescendos. It was like an unhappy cross between Elton John’s Aida and Les Miserables.

Franco Dragone and his designers really came up with some stunning stage imagery. The set has the typical La Jolla Playhouse fluidity and was quite versatile. The lighting was amazing and the use of a drop circular drop scrim was particularly effective. At times there was a huge setting moon as a backdrop for a road scene, or a blazing sunset for a different scene. Unfortunately, for all the beauty of the scenery, Mr. Dragone does not really know how to stage a scene. Most of the actors seemed suffer from “the wanders”, what I describe as random stage movement with little real connection to actual intention or thought. Mr. Dragone can set up a nice tableau, however. There were several examples of the striking imagery that he was known for in the Cirque du Soliel shows. Most notably, the opening tableau, the closing Act I tableau, and the rather stunning Act II beginning. Some of the dancing was nice and energetic, but except for a couple of times the choreography wasn’t very integrated into the story. The exceptions were two very effective scenes in the first act. Otherwise, most of the dancing seemed to be placed to fill a hole in the show. (“Oh we need a transition into the second. Let’s start with a dance in a cantina!”) I have to single out the fight choreography as particularly bad, though. There are many fights, with and without knives, and the staging was pretty poor. Little tension, and they didn’t really look like a “fight”, not even in a stylized “West Side Story” way either. This could be easily fixed by a first class fight coordinator.

The cast for the most part were fine. Janien Valentine’s Carmen was serviceable, but for my money, didn’t show the magnetism that would drive so many men to fall in love with her. Her singing voice was lovely, but some of her dance moves seemed a little stiff. Ryan Silverman brings a lot of passion to his Jose. For me, his character was the most fully developed, but the script didn’t really do him any favors. The show starts with him in a fight and choosing between prison or army service as his sentence. It wasn’t a particularly engaging way to introduce a character. Another problem that I had with the book was that I wasn’t fond of any of the characters. They weren’t particularly sympathetic – not Jose nor Carmen. The balance of the “characters” were cardboard cut outs and not really fleshed out in the context of the show.

So the above is my review, below is the LA Times review...

(Edited for typos)



LA Times - 6/20/07 Updated On: 6/28/07 at 11:43 AM

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:22pm

Here's the pan from the Union-Tribune reviewer for those that are interested.
San Diego Union-Tribune - 6/19/2007

[misschung]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 2:06pm

"straight to Vegas" ?

owch. Visually, it looks great - the costumes, lighting, etc. It's too bad that the dancing was mostly filler - from what you've said. The opera has such wonderful dance routines that could have been translated to this kind of production fairly easily, I think.

I really wish I could see this

Updated On: 6/28/07 at 02:06 PM

[mlsheehan]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 2:26pm

Yes, you are right "it looks great". Pretty much that's its selling point. As a production it needs work.

Below is an interesting article from the LA Times about Dragone's work style. I believe it goes a long way to explaining the defects in this show....



Call It 'Carmen du Soliel' - LA Times, 6/17/2007 Updated On: 6/28/07 at 02:26 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 2:28pm

Yeah, I read a few of them already. It's too bad, because this has such potential to be a great show. But I mean, there are already so many productions running - it's not like Carmen is an inaccessible show.

[mortgageguy79]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 3:25pm

I hope they can get this together! It looks beautiful! It's a fantastic story, I am hoping that this can keep turning around and keep getting better and better, I would love to be able to see something like this!

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/28/07 at 10:13pm

Here is a video of it from BWW:


http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=19582