"Carmen" at Opera Pacific

Orange County Performing Arts Center
March 10, 2007

Milena Kitic, Yugoslavian soprano, has had a baby boy. Said child has prompted her to leave her successful career mid-stride, and seek the quieter job (!?) of full-time mom. Saturday night I heard her last performance for the forseeable future, in her signature role, Carmen.

As superficial as this sounds, I have always maintained that the actress playing Carmen has to be the kind of woman that could (in the words of Raymond Chandler) "cause a Bishop to kick in a stained glass window."

Kitic passed the Chandler test easily: a very steamy, sultry, seductive performance. Maybe a bit over-the-top, but the occasional hackneyed gesture has its attractions too. The last Carmen I saw, Catherine Malfitano (Los Angeles Opera in 2004) had the range but not the steam. Close your eyes and think of Seville...

Kitic has been a fixture at OpPacific, most recently as Amneris in last season's Aida, and she'll be missed. The warm and extended applause said as much.

Chad Shelton was the puppy-dog-like Don Jose, Luis Ledesma the vocally vibrant, but physically restrained Escamillio.