Bizet: Carmen.(Video Recording Review)

[] Von Otter, Milne; Haddock, Naouri; Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Jordan. Spoken-text version. BBC/Opus Arte DVD OA 0868 D (Naxos, dist.), 220 mns.

Director David McVicar declares, in an extra feature on this DVD, "This is the first musical," claiming that Carmen's sequence of "hit number after hit number" inspired him. But which musical does he mean? An unusually grim Les Miz or Threepenny Opera, evidently: no sunny Seville here, nor any hint of Andalusian flash, but close, glum Dickensian alleys, with a chorus in dirty white, dusty black or the occasional dash of bordello red. Micaela forfeits her blue dress, and the children's chorus goads the guards, rather than mimicking them.

McVicar tells the story largely from Jose's point of view, and his Jose is even more neurotic than usual: "His relationship with his mother is quite unhealthy ... women are saints or whores to him." Certainly the women in this 2002 production are either whores or Micaela. There is a bit much of the soft-porn strut, tediously familiar in today's opera productions.

Anne Sofie von Otter sashays from the cleavage, grabbing a crotch here, puffing a cigar there, ornamenting her vocal lines with horse-whistles and a Bronx cheer. She's a spitfire, all right, but is she pushing the sensuality of her acting to make up for the lack of it in her ...