WELSH National Opera’s version of Georges Bizet’s operatic masterpiece Carmen promises much before the vivid Mediterranean-hued curtain rises. But it opens to reveal a drab grey concrete high-rise estate in some Brazilian favela.

At the opening, soldiers and assorted menfolk are eagerly looking forward to their break at the tobacco factory when the Gypsy women come out to smoke, flirt and fight and this is when high passion and love ought to be kindled by a smouldering Carmen, sung by French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez.

Sparks should fly between her and Dimitri Pittas’s Don Jose but the lack of chemistry between the two is a major flaw, compounded by an incoherent production.

Phillip Rhodes is a lacklustre Escamillo, the enigmatic bullfighter to whom Carmen transfers her affections. But again there is no discernible spark to suggest the passionate affair that provokes Bizet’s dramatic denouement, where Don Jose kills his former lover behind the bullfight arena.

It’s a shame that an evening of fabulous music and singing should be marred by the confused direction from Jo Davies, the dreary set and performances that seem less motivated by high passion than ensuring that the French diction is correct.

At Millennium Centre and then touring until May 7 next year, details: wno.org.uk