Carmen, O2 Arena review
If you ever thought about seeing Carmen at the O2 Arena, don't! If you were thinking or getting one of those cheap almost free tickets, don't! You will leave frustrated, and not because the former Millennium Dome is shit and colas will cost you between £2-4+.We purchased front rows seat (and not those cheap tickets you get from 'insiders', much to our regret) and we still couldn't see shit. This was mainly because they hired tons of extras to shield the performers (who were mainly not in sync'ed with the excellent orchestra by the good people from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, because they can't be bothered to keep an eye on one of the billions of tellies there with the conductor in it) especially in the last act with the street carnival and all, as well having a part raised platform on the arena with the principals often preferring to sing in a huddled position hidden away from the audience.
It was never a good idea to host a opera in a 20,000+ arena and it shows. The acoustic was awful and the majority of people attending aren't used to this sort of shows - they were firing pictures with flash as if it was a basketball match! A thick skin lady behind us was even firing her SLR (with flash!) in quiet sections, with nary a scolding from the stewards. It wasn't a surprise to see people leaving even before the intermission. But what do you expect when the opera was mainly marketed to the lowest common denominator with a ridiculous marketing campaign of trying to associate the production with ITV's awful "from Popstars to Operastar"?
Finally let's not forget that Carmen at the O2 is actually performed in English. Sacrilegious.
