Word: carmens
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Bumbry went to Europe in 1959, was chosen after a single audition to sing the lead in the Paris Opera production of Carmen and the following summer became the first Negro ever to sing at the Bayreuth Festival. But she still does not consider herself a Wagner singer. "My style," says Mezzo Bumbry, "is really Verdi. This is my heart and soul...
When the curtain came down last week on a new production of Carmen at the Marseille Opera House, the thunderous ovation was so moving that Don José laid his head on Carmen's shoulder and wept noisily. He had good reason. In the previous performance, part of the audience had greeted the tenor with something less than cheers; he had, in fact, been pelted with bunches of carrots, turnips and radishes. Even oldtime Marseille residents could not recall a more enthusiastic operatic riot...
Directed by Marseille-born Composer-Playwright Louis Ducreux, the ambitious production had two curtains, four sets, and no fewer than 265 costumes designed by famed Painter Bernard Buffet. In the title role was the Metropolitan Opera's Regina Resnik, who has sung Carmen all over the world. Don José was U.S.-born Richard Martell, a tenor who once sang with the San Francisco Opera and has built a fine European reputation...
...vegetables began flying in Act II when Don José finished singing the Flower Song. Mezzo-Soprano Resnik, unable to make her voice heard, regally glared at the howlers in Paradise and cried: "Silence!'' The swells in the orchestra shouted "Bravo, Carmen!" while the locals in Paradise shouted "Behead her!" After four minutes Mezzo-Soprano Resnik managed to quiet the gallery and proceed. Although the rest of the performance was a triumph for both Resnik and Martell, the hecklers obstinately showered the stage with leeks after the final curtain...
Critics stoutly defended the new Carmen, praising Martell's performance and calling Resnik "the best Carmen ever seen." Last week it was apparent from the SRO signs outside the house that Director Ducreux had a hit on his hands. As for the riot, noted Ducreux tolerantly, "It was a cabal against me, a vegetable rich cabal. The hecklers were only looking for a raison d'être. They have-modified Descartes' statement to make it "I boo, therefore I exist...