Carmen at the O2 23-May-10
W
e joined the great throng and walked into the impressive building. With the
minimum of fuss we all went our different ways, Tony and June to the bar, most of the others to the toilet and Ray to the front doors to await Colin and Carol. With ten minutes to go before curtain-up we were (there were in fact no curtains because the production was in the round) we were all seated including Ray, Colin and Carol. (Gill was a little worried that Ray might not be able to find Colin and she was dreading having to tell him the story and sing him the songs if they would not let him in once the performance had started).
W
ell, what to say about the performance? WONDERFUL, MAGNIFICENT,
BRILLIANT, SPECTACULAR were just some of the words used to describe what we had just experienced. We had great seats, a great view of the arena and the sound was just right. Carmen is a great opera for first timers anyway, with a good story and memorable tunes, but this was Something Different. The Finale was just „breathtaking‟ with so much going on. Almost too much with acrobats, dancers and character actors performing impressive cameos that produced spontaneous applause all round the arena while the main action was still going on. Once or twice I had to look very hard to see where the main characters actually were. Needless to say that at the end of the performance and the well deserved applause we left the arena in a real „feel good‟mood. As we left it was still very hot and were looking forward to our
air-conditioned journey home. Unfortunately it didn‟t quite work out like this in the early stages of the journey as we queued with both patrons of the theatre and day trippers to get back through the Blackwall Tunnel. The heat and „not too efficient „air conditioning began to take its toll and it was not until we got going on the A13 that people began rallying themselves. By this time of course we had had to cancel the sing-along of Highlights of Carmen Choruses and Arias, which was to have been led by Colin, who was to take the part of the „big‟ tenor Don Jose and Tony who was to be the diminutive but sexy Escamillio the Bullfighter. We didn‟t actually get round to picking our Carmen but I know for a fact that several of our ladies were up for it once I had hinted that Tony might be singing! Oh well we will just have to save our voices until the next time the Hornchurch and Upminster Choir get together.
W
hat a great day we had and I should just like to finish with a big THANK YOU
to Gill (and Ray who gave out the tickets-I‟m sure he knew I was worried which is why he hid my tickets) for organising this WONDERFUL TRIP.
27
Photos supplied by Margareta Hamilton Story by Georg Larkey
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