What price a cigarette?
A night at the opera! Ellen Kent and Opera International has organised this tour to bring opera to the parts of Britain that are starved of reasonably priced cultural entertainment. This time she has brought the Chisinau National Opera to Britain and with their nationalistic interpretation of Carmen. So what of this production sung in French with English surtitles? A story about a gypsy girl who works in a cigarette factory and devastates the life of an army corporal seems mundane and uninspiring, but with music by Bizet and a libretto by Mailhac all that should change. Alas, this company have brought an unbending, rigid interpretation of Carmen from Moldova. There is no doubting their musicality, but It would seem that not even Nick Hogaths s direction could blend them into a whole which wanted to be on the stage and give a performance. Most of the cast looked as though they wished to be somewhere else and not performing in York for one performance on a Sunday evening. Carmen is sung
