Carmen isn't counting calories; Review Carmen Empire - Spanish lies 7/10.

Byline: JOE RILEY RATING:

THIS brand new tour of Carmen from Chisinau National Opera, from former Soviet satellite state of Moldova, was not counting the calories.

Our Gipsy is no waif.

She looks like a woman who enjoys life.

Voluptuous is the word for this particular sexually pro-active 19th century heroine, whose boastful immorality is light years ahead of her time.

Her suitors - a corpulent corporal and a toreador who looked like he might have difficulty beating the bull in a 100-yard retreat - were similarly fleshed out.

But even if our principal trio appeared to have gone into training the wrong side of a Gary Rhodes trifle, the sounds they produced were seductive.

Tatiana Busuioc as Carmen particularly excelled in her tuneful tiff with the disappointingly more pouting than scheming soldier romancer Don Jose (Dominic Natoli).

But the true vocal prizes go to Petru Racovita for a beautifully rendered and apparently effortless transformation into swaggering bullfighter Escamillo, and to Rosa Lee Thomas in the often underrated role of the romantically thwarted Micaela.

Ms Lee Thomas has a "smaller" voice than some of her counterparts, but her ability to convey her character's pivotal importance in representing the old school of demure female restraint in the face of adversity, was beautifully controlled.

The smugglers' quintet, reminding us that Carmen was originally an Opera-Comique creation, was delightfully humorous.

Composer Bizet's score, full of colour and melody, spins along, but does not forgive the need for some judicious pruning, particularly in Act 1 which relies on a still to be improved chorus.

The production is richly costumed, taking on the appearance of a Goya painting.