Bizet’s Carmen – Opera Africa – Pretoria News and Star

Temptress near flawlessly rendered

Director James Marvel and set designer Steven Capone provide a lesson in how to be functional and original and preserve the identity of the opera.. The sets and striking lighting matched the lush sensuousness and romantic passion of Bizet’s music.

Marvel instilled living, credible, even raw personalities into a cast that displayed dazzling energy. The interplay of characters possesses lasting qualities of intellectual vitality and real musical beauty. The chorus, giving the director ample opportunity to display his masterly talent for movement and grouping in the massed crowd scenes, sang with verve.

– Riek van Rensburg, Pretoria News and Star, March 24 2011