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This Carmen production, which has made the rounds internationally, is one of Zambello’s sturdier stagings and benefited from the detail with which the crowd scenes in Acts I and IV were directed as well as Anna Maria Bruzzese’s handsome choreography. Cafritz singer Christian Simmons also makes a strong impression as the second-cast Zuniga while Karma Camp lives up to her name as a ceaselessly mugging and occasionally decipherable Lilas Pastia.Įvan Rogister led them all with sensitivity from the pit: his take on the score is light on nuance, but delivers in spades (pun intended) on excitement and verve (he emerged both times for his curtain call absolutely drenched head-to-toe in sweat) with particular attention to dance moments and both the orchestra and chorus performed largely with cohesion and gusto. And while Vasquez brings her own intelligence and charm, Micaëla’s tessitura edges her too consistently towards an upper register that sounded uncharacteristically pinched on Saturday evening.Įven Ryan Speedo Green as Escamillo took a little while to settle in (though the fact he sings the first half of the Toreador song seated on a horse my have had something to do with that), the part not providing ample opportunities for his robust voice to display its head-turning combo of filigree and force.īut there is strength amongst the supporting players, many of whom are shared between both casts, including the striking duo of Susannah Waddington and Hannah Shea as Frascuita and Mercédès. Only in the duet with Vanessa Vasquez’s did some of that musicianship come to the fore. Michael Fabiano, in his company debut, predictably and intensely broods his way through Don José, but it’s a broad-strokes performance with less of the attention to detail that has distinguished his interpretations in the past. What might be more surprising is that almost everyone in this first cast seems somewhat miscast. She tries to vary her singing across the numerous repeated strophes of Carmen’s arias, but nothing about the part seems to come to her instinctively and her Carmen is neither fiery nor icy it’s simply room-temperature, a performance rather than an interpretation (though she does a bang-up job on the castanets!) The rich center of her voice has always been a sweet spot, but the part consistently edges her towards the breaks in her register where her sounds falls hollow at the bottom and wiry at the top. It’s maybe not a surprise that Carmen is neither a good vocal nor temperamental fit for Leonard. Instead, Isabel Leonard’s role debut as Carmen, which opened the run on Saturday night, is the banner occasion for this revival of Francesca Zambello’s well-traveled production. But even despite a weak Escamillo, the packed Opera House audience still bristled with a star-is-born feeling for its three strongest leads and was generous with making their enthusiasm known.īut, unfortunately, this is not Thelwell’s run. Only Jonathan Bryan was out of his depth as Escamillo, his lightweight voice a better fit for musical theatre than opera (he has a notable Anthony in Sweeney Todd at Wolf Trap this summer).

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Though she’s a limited actress, her even-tempered soprano spun generous lines that complemented the leading couple’s intensity and earned her the afternoon’s longest mid-performance ovation (after “Je dis”).

His natural chemistry with Thelwell even augmented the effect Katerina Burton has as Micaëla.

The bottled-sounding quality of his voice lends itself well to French repertoire and the ease with which he colored his singing, including some beautiful voix mixte, gave his brusque Don José a believable air of desperation. Her partner, fellow Cafritz young artist Matthew Pearce, blends strength with sensitivity as an equally solid and especially stylish Don José. With a bit more time (and hopefully some coaching to improve stamina across phrases which, especially during the Habanera, were sometimes clipped by prominent breathing), she has the makings of a superior Carmen. She’s a gutsy, energetic actress and her take on Carmen favors high-spirited immediacy rather than aloof fatedness. Her top-flight voice is distinctive and rangy, the center lithe, silky, and clear, and her chest voice voluptuous and authoritative. Yet Thelwell is one of the singular talents to emerge from it in the past six years. WNO’s Cafritz Young Artist Program, which frequently offers some of its singers a chance to perform leading roles in a performance or two of each of their productions, as was the case on Sunday, is not known for minting stars. Only one, however, is worth your time: Rehanna Thelwell will sing the title role once more, on May 27, and she is, in her role debut, a stupendous Carmen. There are five performances remaining of Washington National Opera’s season-closing production of Carmen.

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