Opera furore rages on as creatives decry Carmen changes

Opera Australia’s claim to have remounted the Handa Opera production ‘as true to [its] original format as possible’ has been challenged by the original creative team.

The cast of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Carmen 2017. Photo credit: Prudence Upton.

Last week, only days before the opening night of Opera Australia’s remounted Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour — Carmen, the original creative team stated their concerns that ‘the public will [not] see the production as it was originally intended to be’. They also expressed anger over Opera Australia’s alleged failure to invite them back to oversee the remounted production, despite ‘multiple overtures to the Company offering our services’.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts