by Helen Adourian
July 2022
Visiting the Yerevan opera to see the opera “Carmen” for a 10 year old like me, was, let’s say, an experience. In the Opera “Carmen” by Bizet, the main character, Carmen, is like a magnet to boys. But she is especially a magnet to one boy, Don Jose, who is lured out of his job as a solider. Don Jose falls in love with Carmen, even though he was already engaged to Mikaela. Once the men hear the bell ring, they are gathered up to see the women working. Carmen is one among this group. She throws a rose at Jose, a soldier watching her group work. Jose is forced to hide the rose form his fiancé, Mikaela. As Jose continues to beg for a new life with Carmen, Carmen throws his ring at his feet and leaves. She makes it clear that her affair with Do Jose is over, and that she wants to be free. Jose will not take NO for an answer, so he chokes Carmen to death.
The play was about love and jealousy, and left most of the people in the audience, in awe, except for me, which left me in deep sleep. I think there are three reasons why I was not impressed. The dancing was very unimpressive to me. They were practically just jumping up and down. My second reason is that, while I love when people have great imagination, I think Bizet was a little crazy. The reason why this is, is because I did not understand why the little people were jumping around holding shoes, then jumping in a sewer pipe. My last reason why I did not like this, is because the stage was NOT very nice at all. I though the background was a moon, when it was really a bull horn.
So unless you want to hear a lady screaming in French, please do not go to see this opera. But again, that is only my opinion as a 10 year old.