As operas go, Carmen, credible in story and neat in tunesmithing, is nearly perfect. But plump divas and paunchy tenors have often flawed it. Last week Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera produced a new gypsy heroine, a slim, long-legged, flaunting quean. The Met's new Carmen, a recruit from the Brussels and Paris operas named Lily Djanel (pronounced John L.), was a bit wobbly in voice, especially in early moments of apparent stage fright. But she proved a plausible charmer, raised many a hair when she read death for herself in the cards.
Soprano Djanel's Carmen was backed up as expertly as a debutante...
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