“I can’t believe it actually came off!” exulted one delighted musician who was among the 190 involved in a marathon opera and ballet production of “Carmen” at Guadalajara’s Nuevo Progreso bullring October 20.
The evening extravaganza — performed by the state’s (Jalisco) orchestra, choir and dance company along with a flamenco company, another dance company, a children’s choir, and a bullfighting-training school — was the highlight of the extensive cultural program designed to accent the Panamerican Games.
Under the baton of U.S. director Leslie Dunner, a candidate for the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra’s top musical spot, the ambitious performance flowed with few glitches. Indeed, the near-capacity audience of somewhat less than 6,000 people who were seated in half of the Plaza de Toros Nuevo Progreso, reacted with courtesy and enthusiasm, despite the unusual venue of the bull ring, with its rock-hard seats, electronic amplification, and tequila and beer sales throughout the three-hour gala.
Dunner was an apt choice because of his experience with both dancers and orchestras and before the event he spoke enthusiastically about “the opportunity for artistic collaboration.”
Likewise, the oft-performed opera, said to be very accessible (in addition to being one of the best-constructed operas), seemed an apt choice for the crown jewel of the Pan American Games cultural festival. Very reasonable ticket prices (100 to 300 pesos) ensured that the performance would live up to the reputation of “Carmen” as an opera for the common people. And the crowd, some quietly humming along with favorite tunes such as the “Toreador’s Song” and the “Habanera,” bore this out.
The pure and plentiful pleasure evident in the Plaza de Toros Friday rendered irrelevant any confusion among the uninitiated about the mix of genres on display. This blending of orchestra, opera, and dance, which meant that one Carmen (Grace Echauri) sang exquisitely from a platform on the right while another Carmen (Olivia Quintana) danced exquisitely on center stage, only perplexed anyone who insisted on understanding music history.
But the instrumental and choral music by French opera composer Georges Bizet, with additional string and percussion dance music composed by Russian Rodion Shchedrin for the ballet, along with some percussion-only numbers danced by the flamenco group Las Cabales, were so well blended together that, according to Debra Rodriguez, who sang in the production, “sometimes, it even looked as if the dancers were singing.”