[Met Performance] CID:259270



Carmen
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, October 20, 1979

Debut : William Johns




Carmen (763)
Georges Bizet | Henri Meilhac/Ludovic Hal?vy
Carmen
Viorica Cortez

Don Jos?
William Johns [Debut]

Micaela
Teresa Kubiak

Escamillo
Lenus Carlson

Frasquita
Louise Wohlafka

Merc?d?s
Isola Jones

Remendado
Andrea Velis

Danca?re
Russell Christopher

Zuniga
Philip Booth

Moral?s
John Darrenkamp

Set & Projection Designer
Josef Svoboda


Conductor
James Conlon


Production
G?ran Gentele

Costume Designer
David Walker

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Choreographer
Alvin Ailey

Stage Director
Bodo Igesz





Carmen received twenty-two performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Robert Jacobson in Opera News

Judging from the first two acts of the "Carmen" revival (Oct 20), newcomer William Johns, an American with extensive European experience, supplied a sturdy Don Jos?, sensitively sung (including the soft ending for the flower song), but without much individuality or brilliance, his acting of the hang-dog variety. The performance on the whole was either serviceable or dull, beginning with James Conlon's well prepared, but unpoetic, unbuoyant reading. Viorica Cortez' gypsy girl was a compendium of vocal uncertainties - pitch, knitting the registers, edginess and so much tone that a simple French "a" was out of the question - and she played the role as a lively sexpot caricature, relying on chesty sounds and hands-on-hips sultriness. Teresa Kubiak sounded flavorless as Micaela, and Lenus Carlson rasped the bottom third of his baritone, lacking the grand line for Escamillo.



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