It's Carmen week here at The Year of Musical Thinking. My last entry was the version of Bizet's opera adapted by Oscar Hammerstein to the rural African-American experiences in the 1940s. Today it's The Car Man, Matthew Bourne's dance version of the story using Bizet's music updated to white America in the 1950s.
It must be the rampant sex appeal of this story which makes everyone want to adapt it for their time and place. And this version ups the sex and violence quotient; besides hot dancers in jeans and t-shirts (sometimes), there are a couple of bi-sexual characters, a lot of bludgeoning and a prison rape scene.
The Car Man never played on Broadway that I could discern, although Bourne's highly-touted all-male Swan Lake did make a splash on Broadway. This is a film version of Car Man adapted from the West End stage production , I believe.
Bourne changes Bizet's story in many ways (besides having the smoldering outsider be a man, rather than a woman). The Bizet music is used best when there is a strong sense of rhythm to hold on to (at least for me to hold on to, the dancers don't seem to have any trouble). The solo and duet dances are the most captivating, but the group numbers have a lot of athleticism to enjoy. I've said before, I don't know much about dance, but Mr. Bourne seems to have a large "vocabulary" which is based in the world of modern dance in this work. I'll need to see his Swan Lake to see if he dances other languages, too.
Some of the edits that are "outside" the theatrical staging are clumsy, but on the whole this is well filmed. Alan Vincent, who portrays the Car Man, Luca, is very sexy in the beginning, but is outshone in the second act by Will Kemp. I'm sure I'm not the first to admire Mr. Kemp, who is part of Bourne's usual group of dancers. Mr. Kemp is a beautiful dancer and a very expressive actor. He's making the transition to non-dancing roles, including Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet. Mr. Kemp also portrayed the horse Nugget in the Daniel Radcliff production of Equus, recently.
The Car Man
Story adapted and choreography by Matthew Bourne
Music by Georges Bizet
2001 stage show slightly adapted for filming
Cast: Alan Vincent, Will Kemp, Saranne Curtin, Etta Murfitt.
Story adapted and choreography by Matthew Bourne
Music by Georges Bizet
2001 stage show slightly adapted for filming
Cast: Alan Vincent, Will Kemp, Saranne Curtin, Etta Murfitt.
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