OPERA REVIEW OF CAPITOL OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF

                            CARMEN

Patricia Beach-Smith, the Sacramento Bee Arts Critic - 11/06/1999

Well-earned applause rewards 'Carmen's' ambitious cast

Carmen is not a nice girl, but Capitol Opera Sacramento's production of "Carmen" showed why she is so popular nonetheless. The opera which opened Thursday night has everything - flawless melodies, drama in a decent (if indecent) story with believable characters, a cat fight, comedy, dancing, jealousy, love, hate. And in what is surely one of this companies most ambitious productions to date, she is also a winner.

Soprano Lynn Panattoni easily sold the title character as a temptress bent on getting ahead. Maintaining Carmen's dramatic and vocal intensity and drive throughout, Panattoni used her beautiful, agile voice and natural acting abilities to achieve Carmen's goal, something that ultimately gets her killed. Panattoni is a natural on stage, whether taunting her prey or dancing on a tabletop.

The entire cast's interesting voices and palpable enthusiasm added welcome deminsion to the production. The cast was musically and dramatically well-rehearsed.

Stage director Robert DeLucia assembled attractive tableaux by capitalizing on the acting abilities of various singers, designing a set that was simple yet believable, and adding clever devices to inform the audience.

Roger Smith, who powerfully sang the role of army officer Zuniga, doubled as the scene painter and provided elegant backdrops for each of the various venues - a square in Seville, a tavern, a mountain hideout and a bullfighting arena.

Many important elements came together Thursday to make this "Carmen" such a successful effort. It was the company's first full production in its revamped theater, which now sports 80-plus comfortable seats on risers and also marks the first time Capitol Opera has used super-titles to translate the libretto.

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