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Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi as Carmen Jones |
Appetite for destruction
CARMEN JONES
Royal Festival Hall
CARMEN Jones is the story of a woman who roars – only in this production there are two; two women who grab the limelight, out-performing the men and bringing together Oscar Hammerstein’s potentially tricky all-black reworking of Bizet’s opera.
Set during the Second World War somewhere in the Deep South, it’s the story of a GI called Joe who is led off the straight and narrow by his obsession with Carmen, a woman in scarlet who defies men with her sexuality and overwhelms them with her force of character.
Men find her irresistible – but Carmen uses her sexual allure for her own ends, tossing aside the social straight-jacket in which women are supposed to play a submissive second fiddle.
She isn’t just brazen she’s brave, sticking two fingers up at the dirt-poor life set out on men’s terms.
Left by the wayside is Joe’s childhood sweetheart Cindy Lou, a difficult character who must convey dignity and sympathy.
Over the years the climax, in which Joe kills Carmen, has become an iconic statement about women, power and defiance – and one in which this production swerves away from the best-known 1954 Hollywood version with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.
So controversial was the story that Dandridge almost walked out
because of her concerns the part negatively portrayed black women. Thankfully she stuck it out.
Here South African Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi sings and acts an imperious Carmen who lords it over the men with every toss of her head, flick of her hips and dismissive “boy” jibe.
American Sherry Boone is an extremely evocative Cindy Lou, giving a brilliant rendition of an aria that requires considerable vocal dexterity and for which she received an ovation.
Dodgy acoustics were sometimes unkind to some of the male singers and the bold decision to put the orchestra centre-stage posed a sometimes awkward battle with the ensemble. But most controversial was the ending, a radical departure from the Hollywood version.
Dandridge’s Carmen, whose death has been foretold, is cornered but nevertheless fights back against Joe. Maswanganyi has also read the runes predicting her death but this time embraces it, helping plunge the knife into her bosom.
Over the years it’s been argued Carmen dies because of her addiction to life, her determination to grab as much of it as she can in defiance of social mores.
But here director Jude Kelly prefers Carmen dies because she’s ruled by a “motive for destruction” and finally welcomes her only true match – the Grim Reaper.
Dorothy Dandridge, an unknown, will always be remembered for her Carmen although sadly she killed herself a decade later. This Carmen is a fantastic addition to Maswanganyi’s growing repertoire.
Fittingly, the loudest applause was for Maswanganyi, the superb Sherry Boone, and the female supports: Andee-Louise Hypolite, Akiya Henry and Brenda Edwards.
Until September 2
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