Publication Date: Friday Feb 26, 1999

Hidden treasures

One of the surest signs of an opera's greatness is its ability to produce fresh revelations even after repeated viewings. Working on my fourth "Carmen" in a year and a half, I was greeted with yet another layer of hidden treasures this weekend at West Bay Opera, thanks mostly to Mexican tenor Francisco Almanza.

Almanza brings a cartload of fresh subtleties to Don Jose, the Spanish soldier who is led to shame and violence by Bizet's tempestuous title character. Almanza received an extensive grilling on the role in 1997, when he sang it dozens of times with San Francisco Opera's touring Western Opera Theater. The result is that he inhabits the part as easily as breathing and creates whole new ideas about the opera's story line.

Idea one is that Don Jose may be, in fact, the primary mover of "Carmen," since he is the character who goes through the most changes. The second notion is that Jose is not a meek victim of Carmen's seductions, as many would have him be. It's obvious from the beginning that his chaste, heatless attachment to his hometown girl, Micaela, is not going to hold him, and when Carmen offers a weekend getaway with her and her smuggler friends, he doesn't exactly go against his will.

The third notion is that, set against Carmen's beautiful, overfamiliar melodies, Jose's music is more subtle and enduring. This comes through first in "Et Tu Lui Diras," the haunting and beautiful leitmotif representing Jose's mother and village (introduced in Act I by Elisabeth Rom's Micaela), and later in the "Flower Song," Jose's ode to the keepsake that sustains him through his two months in the brig. Almanza's easy entrance into the aria, the smooth slide into the chorus and the mastery and tasteful discretion with which he handles his top notes are all absolute gems of vocal phrasing.

This is certainly not to knock the Carmen of Jennifer Dawn Hines, who sings well and acts superbly. Though a bit too fond of the covered tone, which has become an unfortunate trademark of the role, Hines shines especially bright in "Pres des Ramparts de Seville," her Act I seduction of Jose and the reason he ends up in the brig.

Hines captures Carmen's stubbornness with an impossibly long departing stare-down in Act III and follows with a riveting terror when she faces a desperate Jose in the well-choreographed violence of Act IV. She needs, however, to cut down on the flamenco stamping of Act I; blessed with an easy smile and natural comeliness, Hines is most seductive when still or while practicing the invasion-of-personal-space trick on some hapless male.

Our Escamillo, Ryan Taylor, understands this concept perfectly, striking a series of convincingly athletic poses as he lends a focused but blissfully unforced baritone to the play-by-play theatrics of the Toreador Song. He does, however, need a new pair of pantalones; his present ones look too much like sweats.

The biggest ensemble treat is Carmen's gang o' smugglers, who are so compatible as to resemble a gypsy version of "Friends." This includes gal-pals Frasquita and Mercedes (Kristin Genis and Sarah Helen Land) and captains-of-crime Le Remendado and Le Dancaire (Jimmy Kansau and Matthew Cavicke). The latter two enjoy themselves entirely too much, and the five of them give a sprightly reading of Bizet's brisk Act II quintet, "Nous Avons en Tete Une Affaire."

Let's wrap this up with kudos to flutist Michelle Caimotto's solo in the lovely Act III prelude and a backhanded compliment to the choruses--men's, women's and children's--who know their French diction so well they constantly race ahead of Ernest Fredric Knell's tempos (faced with the downright adrenalized children, Knell resorts to striking his baton against the podium, a trick usually reserved for rehearsals).

What: West Bay Opera presents "Carmen."

When: 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

How much: Tickets are $33 general; $17 for those 17 and under for Sunday show.

Information: Call 424-9999. 

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