Like Carmen herself, electrifying soprano Stephanie Blythe is loving her life
You could call Stephanie Blythe's career meteoric, and still not overstate the case: At 24, she was already singing the role of the offstage Voice in a Met production of "Parsifal," starring Placido Domingo. In the intervening decade, Blythe has won the kinds of rave reviews that could turn a young singer's head — and she's established a major presence in Seattle, too, with her performances as Fricka in the recent (and upcoming) "Ring."
Now she's back in town — for Carmen, the most famous seductress in all of opera. Isn't it a huge leap, from Wagner's scolding goddess to Bizet's cigarette-smoking gypsy temptress of Seville?
"Carmen's not a bad girl," declares Blythe, over salad and coffee at a quick lunch between rehearsals for the Seattle Opera production (opening Saturday).
Characterizing Carmen
"People have this idea of her, that she's a whore. And she's not. Carmen is larger than life: She's the woman men want, the one women want to be. There is an energy, an aura about her that makes her a force of nature.
"What Carmen really is, is a walking pheromone."
It's clear that Blythe has done a lot of thinking about a role that has riveted audiences since 1875. The character is all about freedom, will and control, Blythe believes; she also has such a clear vision of her own mortality, as foretold in the tarot cards, that she has no real fear of death.
Blythe is pretty fearless herself. She's a big, tall, voluptuous woman who probably is closer to the 19th-century ideal of beauty than are the size-2 actresses and celebrities who define our contemporary society's aesthetic. She's famously outspoken, telling a New York Times interviewer that she "majored in marijuana for a semester" when she lost her motivation at the State University of New York at Potsdam (where she studied music education at the Crane School of Music). She frankly admits, "There's a lot of Carmen in me. I like singing strong women in adversity. And I really enjoy life."
Being happy in her personal life helps a lot. The daughter of a musician and a professional German translator, Blythe has been married for two years to David Smith-Larsen, an English-born actor who will portray tavern owner Lillas Pastia in the Seattle "Carmen."
The two met onstage, when Smith-Larsen, a former professional wrestler, was the innkeeper in a Paris Opera production of "Falstaff" in which Blythe was singing Mistress Quickly. They clicked, and then carried on a long-distance courtship that continued when she was in Seattle for the last "Ring."
"I told David all about Seattle over the phone," she says.
Husband gets a look
"Now, he's here in town with me, getting to see all the things we talked about. I love it here: The people in Seattle are like nobody else. They're so welcoming.
"I initially resisted when Speight (Jenkins, Seattle Opera's general director) asked me to sing in the 'Ring.' Big voice, big woman; I didn't want to be typecast as a Wagnerian singer. Speight gave me a year and a half to decide, which is unbelievable. When I was about to give him my decision, Speight told me, 'I want you to know that James Morris (the prestigious singer who was to sing opposite her as Wotan) has just pulled out of the project.' He didn't have to tell me that — it wasn't public knowledge yet. He could have had me sign a contract, and then told me later.
"I decided I wanted to work with somebody who was that honest. And it was one of the best decisions I ever made. My two summers doing the 'Ring' here have been thrilling. It would have broken my heart not to be back (for the 2005 revival) — so I'm coming back."
In the meantime, the world has discovered Stephanie Blythe. Critics rave about her performances in repertoire from Handel's tragic "Giulio Cesare" to Offenbach's frothy "La Grande Duchess de Gérolstein." Met conductor James Levine has praised her "enormous gift in timbre and personality and musicianship." Jenkins says, "Her sound is just electrifying." She's booked through 2007.
"I do my job. I sing, act and listen as best I can. I've learned a lot from watching Domingo — whenever anyone else is singing with him onstage, he focuses entirely on them and is glued to every word," says Blythe.
One thing anyone who's ever seen and heard Blythe can tell you: in this production, Seville isn't going to be a dull place. Hold onto your sombreros.
Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com