Lundi Gras

In the second act of Carmen, the eponymous gypsy says “HolÃ !.. Lillas Pastia, holÃ !.. nous mangerons tout… tu me rÃ©gales… holÃ ! holÃ …. Tiens, attrape… et apporte-nous des fruits confits; apporte-nous des bonbons, apporte-nous des oranges, apporte-nous du Manzanilla… apporte-nous de tout ce que tu as, de tout, de tout…” Well, that line is cut in the current Met revival of the opera, and La Cieca is not quite sure that’s only because Olga Borodina refuses to do spoken dialogue.Â

Perhaps Peter Gelb has placed a ban on all onstage snacking, since, as La Cieca’s spy at the Met reports: “… at tonight’s primo of Carmen, after years of dull grey and yellow uniforms, the soldier’s corp will be featuring new ‘slimming’ black frontÂ tabards and gunbelts. Take a wild guess as to whose growing avoirdupois this ‘slimming’ feature is a response (as goes the star, so goes the corp….)”