Carmen High 5 star Review for Stephanie Vlahos’ at Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Conceived in concept, lyric, and dialogue by Stephanie Vlahos and features music from the opera by Bizet.
Carmen, a fiery, magnetic seductress, draws the soldier Don José into a turbulent love affair.
5 Star Review
Edinburgh Guide – Carmen High, Spotlites, Review by Gordon Clayton
Conceived in concept, lyric, and dialogue by Stephanie Vlahos and features music from the opera by Bizet.
On top of the well-known songs from Carmen/Carmen Jones there is rap and a whole lot more. Similar to the film ‘Mean Girls’ this high school has some mean guys as well.
As usual there is someone who is a butt of all the jokes. Not one of the in-crowd.
Georgia Mendes’s Carmen is the source of attraction for most of the guys and as a joke makes a play for Jose, who already has a girl who likes him.
As their relationship unfolds, Carmen’s free-spirit clashes with Don José’s dutiful sense of honour. Leading them along a perilous path into a life of crime and eventual disaster.
The piece is centred around Carmen, the mean and sensual cheerleader who jokingly dates Jose, the school outcast. With an air of ‘Spring Awakening’, the scenes are punctuated by solos. Some of the teens share their thoughts and struggles in their quest for identity.
Carmen High
Bizet’s much-loved, timeless music takes centre stage in this intimate community opera production. This gives a platform to singers from the UK and beyond. Directed by Jacob Zualski, this production is inspired by “poor theatre”, which seeks to strip down performances and highlight the actors’ physicality and direct connection with the audience.
Carmen High is a powerful story about a popular mean girl who jokingly dates a high school outcast.
It’s a story about fitting in and not fitting in, being popular and being bullied, suicide, peer pressure, pop culture, friendship, isolation, and rape. In Carmen High we experience a universe of stories about the American High School experience in a mash-up of hip hop, original pop songs, and music from Bizet’s opera by teenagers navigating the emotional minefield of a high school.
It’s Glee with an authentic edge.
Nicole Rosky, Broadway World
For the 69th annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland a 5 star Review
Opening up the Spotlites International Theatre in their new location at the corner of Hanover Street in the beautiful building of the Royal Society of Edinburgh is a new musical called, Carmen High. Carmen High is conceived and directed by Stephanie Vlahos, based on the Bizet opera, Carmen. Carmen High is a theatrical mash up of opera, hip hop, original songs, and classical music that reinvents the opera of Carmen as the real American high school experience told through the authentic voices of gifted teenage performers.
Original songs written by The Faceless Muse, Kendra Celise, Lily Campbell, David Robinson and Scott Kelley. Carmen High is directed by Stephanie Vlahos with Scott Kelley (Choreographer), Jared Sayeg (Lighting Design) and And Galbach (musical direction). The cast includes: Georgia Mendes, Grant Bower, Dominque Adapon, Darci Anderson, Mia Michaud, Amy Prochaska, Zane Sipotz, Charlie Smith, Chris James, Joe Riahi, Connor Bezark, Jack Zager, Naja Burton, Daniela Rodrigo, Paloma Mettler, Jacksonb Hatwan, Shelbie Wayne, Sara Watson, Leah Lane, T J Smith, Isaiah Mikael, Aidan Morvec, Sebastian de Klerk, and Maria Campo.
August 8, 2016: Leah Lane, the daughter of Broadway producers Bonnie Comley and Stewart Lane, has travelled to Scotland to perform in “Carmen High” at The 69th annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which began this past Thursday. The previous Saturday on August 1 Ms. Lane performed in Fada: The House of Madness at the 23 annual Watermill Center Summer Gala, which is one of the most sought after social events of the Hampton’s Summer Season.
80 Stephanie Vlahos Carmen High At The Edinburgh Fringe Festival Photos and High-res Pictures