Last Saturday, Ted and I took our son’s girlfriend, Ellen, to see the Met: Live in HD production of Carmen. It was Ellen’s first opera. She’s taking a university music class and attending a performance earns her five extra marks. At this point in the semester, five extra marks are nothing to sneeze at.
We’re very fond of Ellen. She’s a young woman who’s open to new experiences—a good characteristic for a person who hopes for a career as a teacher. That said, the on-screen Met performances are ideal for people who want to dip a toe into the opera experience rather than diving in head first.
Ted and Ellen and I all wore blue jeans to Carmen. Ted and I have been regulars at the HD performances, so we know to arrive early enough to get our New York fries from the woefully overworked young person who doles out the fries and Diet Coke on our Saturday afternoons at the opera. Ellen went the popcorn route.
I told Ellen about the rush to the champagne at the New York performances. We all agreed that – elegant as the champagne rush might be--there was something pleasant about kicking back in our blue jeans and eating snacks that were as sinfully self-indulgent as the lives of the characters in opera.
Carmen was glorious. For some, Bizet’s opera may be a war horse, but it was Ellen’s first opera and she loved it. Like all of us, she recognized much of the music from the cartoons of her childhood, but Richard Eyre’s production was so fresh and touching that we were all dazzled.
Our Ellen bears a
more than passing resemblance to Elina Garanca, the mezzo who sang Carmen in
the performance we saw. Our Ellen
is also young enough to respond to the passions that drive Carmen (the bad
girl), Don Jose (the weak and vulnerable lover), Micaela (the good girl who
loses all to the bad girl) and Escamillo, (the cocky toreador who wins Carmen’s
heart.) Elina
Garanca’s raw and sexy interpretation of Bizet’s heroine was worth the price of
admission. But there were bonus points for everyone in the theatre that day.
The production was dazzling. Ted
and I had the pleasure of Ellen’s company at her first opera. Ellen earned five
extra marks towards her final grade.
Best of all, Ellen wants to come with us again.