Nuns, Doppelgängers, ball gags, “third arms“?

Your own Squirrel is on the scene at Symphony Space offering his eyewitness account of the prima of Carmen (as seen on HD, liveish from Milan). Up-to-the-minute coverage follows the jump.

4:05 PM:  I guess u know who is being loudly booed right now.

4:00 PM:  Kaufmann showered with flowers.  Carmen booed? Unclear. Carmen whacked in face w bouquet ouch!

3:38 PM: Vendors outside bullfight are selling human limbs? Wtf

3:32 PM: Pause b4 4th and final act. Steeling myself 4 brutality and horror.

3:30 PM:  People, micaela becomes his mother and dies right there!

3:15 PM: Um why does micaela in act 3 have streaks of gray hair? Oh wait…she IS HIS MOTHER?!

2:45 PM: Great. Now audience is  arguing over merits of bullfighting. Good grief!

2:38: Promenading.

2:37 PM:  Carmen n jose sporting lots of leave in conditioner and she looks downright swarthy!

2:30 PM:  Cam needs to pan away from kaufmann when he sings bcuz he is a big drooler!

2:22 PM:  Squirrel is freezing in here!  Fine atto secondo. Peduzzi sets like met carmen. Costume very conservative. Dance boheme flamenco w lots of upskirts. The Upskirt Carmen? 

1:50 PM: PETA has hijacked toreador song?  Huge screens w pics of slatghtrd bulls!

1:30 PM: Many italian dignitaries in regalia and also txting! Animated and ornery crowd here on 95th st! No seats left. I get a slightly dishrntld vibe.

1:16 PM:  Act 1 duet stagd like lucia mad scene w michaela in wedding dress!

1:05 PM: Brnbnboim pudgy had trbl sittng down on podium stool crazy lauhgter.

Carmn not a nun… Yet? No body dbls yet exept ltl boys in tidy wities with act 1 soldiers

1:02 PM: Prductn not nrly weird enuf. Mostly straigt scenes. Lotta violnce!

1:00 PM: Intermission.

12:56 PM: Kaufmn snds good but is totlly boring actor very conceited lookng

12:55 PM: This is hilarious! Hair pullng n upskirts galore!

11:55 AM: Italn opera crowd looks bored! We r o n 5 min delay. oops lights down.

11:48 AM: Vibrnt expctant crowd here folks

11:41 AM: Gosh hope kaufman pulls thru no good being raped by an undrstudy!

11:30 AM: The Corriere della Sera calls punk regista and opera newbie Emma Dante‘s production  “La Carmen eretica.”  Check back all afternoon for live dispatches of the carnage!

The fiasco – er, show – begins today at 12 noon EST and will also be streaming on RAI3. A wrap-up report will follow, after the blood is all mopped up.

Don José: Jonas Kaufmann
Escamillo: Erwin Schrott
Carmen: Anita Rachvelishvili
Micaëla: Adriana Damato

Conductor: Daniel Barenboim

Staging & Costumes: Emma Dante
Sets: Richard Peduzzi
Lights: Dominique Bruguière