English National Opera - Carmen Reviews
29 March 2024
Ruxandra Donose, Duncan Rock, Madeleine Shaw, Rhian Lois, Graeme Danby
Ruxandra Donose, Adam Diegel
Leigh Melrose, Rhian Lois
General scene
Ruxandra Donose, Adam Diegel

Performance reviews

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Carmen

English National Opera


No. of reviews: 16

Bad-boy Catalan director, Calixto Bieito, returns to the Coliseum with a relatively restrained Carmen
7 Dec 12 / Telegraph
Carmen drives lover crazy
28 Nov 12 / Bloomberg
An updated and distorting take on Bizet
28 Nov 12 / Musical Pointers
Intense, lean, witty and stripped of cliché: a 'Carmen' worth the wait
25 Nov 12 / Independent on Sunday
This Carmen is intelligent, persuasive and intense
25 Nov 12 / The Observer
This is intelligent, fascinating music theatre and well worth seeing
23 Nov 12 / The Guardian
Different? Yes, but also rather dated
23 Nov 12 / Independent
The performance’s overall voltage remains very low indeed
23 Nov 12 / Telegraph
ENO’s Carmen a musical and dramatic triumph
23 Nov 12 / Seen and Heard
The staging is sharp, clear and energised, and regularly hits the emotional spot dead on
23 Nov 12 / The Stage
It’s the dramatic quality of the production that will be remembered
23 Nov 12 / What's on Stage
Calixto Bieito is a name to strike terror or nascent outrage into the hearts of traditional opera goers
23 Nov 12 / Opera Britannia
Bieito’s Carmen may not be beautiful but it works
23 Nov 12 / Classical Source
Hopefully this amazing staging will be in ENO’s repertoire for many years to come
23 Nov 12 / Londonist
A visually satisfying production ultimately fails to gel on the night
23 Nov 12 / The Arts Desk
Opera's most outrageous stage director cleans his act up (more or less) at ENO
23 Nov 12 / Telegraph
Carmen: It ain’t over till the nude lady sings
A lusty new production of 'Carmen' by Calixto Bieito embraces the growing trend for red-hot opera.
Should sex come before singing?
As Calixto Bieito and ENO's raunchy production of Bizet’s Carmen opens at the London Coliseum, Rupert Christiansen argues that the real way to surprise opera’s audience is to put the music first.
ENO: a sexy, sensual Carmen... but you can still take mother
It has been described as raunchy and not for the faint-hearted, but the artistic director of the English National Opera’s new production of Carmen insists that it is safe to take your mother.
Production details
Cast
Rock, Donose, Diegel, Melrose, Llewellyn, Danby, Lois, Shaw, Dolton, Rhys-Jenkins
(c) Wigglesworth/Fitzpatrick (d) Bieito
Performance dates
21, 23, 27, 30 November, 2(m), 4, 6, 9 December 2012
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