Georges Bizet wrote of Carmen, “I have written a work that is all clarity and vivacity, full of colour and melody. It will be entertaining. Come along – I think you are going to like it.” The Met’s 2014 Carmen is a welcome return for Richard Eyre’s wonderful 2010 production. It was brooding and atmospheric and claustrophobic and doom-laden and I did quite like it. Though I think, re-watching the 2010 version (Met Opera on Demand makes this far too easy), that I prefer the earlier version, as it has more vivacity and less unrelieved gloom (though even the 2014 version perks up for the irrepressible and almost Gilbert-and-Sullivan-esque comic quintet in act two). Continue reading →