Carmen – Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Overview

Last year I described the inaugural Handa Opera on the Harbour as "probably the best outdoor event to ever be staged in Australia". This year it is even better.

This applies whether you love opera or can't fathom it. There's so much to enjoy in this night out: the transporting music, the lively choreography, the larger-than-life costumes, the themed pop-up bars and that eternal fail-safe: the outlook over the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and other wonders of Sydney Harbour. If your thoughts wander away from the action on the stage, it's to drink in the sense of occasion and feel immediately intoxicated.

This year's Opera Australia production, made possible by the funding of philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa and the International Foundation for Art and Culture, is Georges Bizet's Carmen, the fiery Spanish love story with the French libretto. It's programming is a good call on many counts. First, there's the music, the familiar melodies of which are giddying. If you don't know the Toreador's Song by title, you might know it as an ad for roll-a-doors, while the trills of Carmen's Habanera are instantly recalled via classic renditions or mash-ups of the likes seen in the 2001 Beyonce/Mos Def/Lil' Bow Wow TV movie, Carmen: A Hip Hopera.

It's also a show that takes place mostly among the underclasses and so has the grungy charm of a West Side Story, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or other perennial of popular entertainment. Director Gale Edwards and her team have moved the setting forward 60-80 years into early 20th-century Spain under the fascist rule of Francisco Franco, which adds an appropriate air of oppression given Carmen's literal and romantic imprisonment.

The revamped setting also gives designer Brian Thomson a clear aesthetic to work with, and the design elements cohere better than in last year's La Traviata. It's a glam military-industrial look that lends itself nicely to neon, fireworks and tanks swinging in on cranes. The Carmen set may look like its been built to be viewed from the Opera House (from where you can read the giant letters as if they're the Hollywood sign and you're on Mulholland Drive), but its real value is definitely seen from the stadium seating at Mrs Macquarie's Point. The reverse of the letters is moodily rusty, lit in many different ways and hides scaffolding that is impressively utilised during the show.

One of the best non-traditional additions to the opera is the contemporary, pasodoble- and seguidilla-inflected dance numbers choreographed by Kelley Abbey (a familiar name to US So You Think You Dance fans who also has a long history in Australian musical theatre). Coupled with the costumes of Julie Lynch, they add a flamboyant sense of passion and spectacle.

I've left it till late in this review to delineate the plot of Carmen, because it's not that pivotal. Carmen is a freethinking gypsy who has to choose between the bullfighter she loves and the military officer she kind of likes who busted her out of prison once. And because it was written in more misogynistic times, one of these men will have to kill her. It's not too deep. On the plus side, the music of Carmen quite clearly communicates character and even emotional struggles within characters, an aspect of opera that can usually be hard to grasp for beginners. The drama is well paced, although the denouement happens all of a sudden and perhaps more could have been done to make it feel like a real ending.

With state-of-the-art sound only audio engineers could distinguish from concert hall acoustics, Opera on the Harbour is a polished production and an accessible way to experience opera. It's not cheap, but the $79 C-reserve seating at least affords a decent view (unlike most opera houses) and the tapas dining option is reasonably priced and quickly dispensed. And with the balmy March of 2013, you've every chance of a dry, dreamy night.

Thanks to Opera Australia, we have two double passes to give away to Carmen on Saturday, April 13, and Sunday, April 14. To be in the running, subscribe to Concrete Playground (if you haven't already) then email us with your name and postal address at [email protected]. Carmen closes on April 14.