My Chemical Romance: A personal story of SA opera star’s homecoming
David Simmons shares a warm tale of his famous friend – the star of a new local opera production who has travelled the globe with one of the world’s best-known rock bands.
When I was a young boy, I performed in high school productions of off-Broadway cult classic musicals with Charlotte Kelso.
She was usually the lead – or close to it – in the co-ed productions with our sister school that introduced me and my shy, teenage male peers to women for the first time.
It was a charged time of our lives, and given it was the late 2000s to early 2010s, we were all a little bit emo.
At house parties, I’d play air guitar and scream along to over-the-top pop punk with Charlotte, both decked out in Converse sneakers with lyrics and doodles drawn all over the white parts.
She was always a brilliant singer and actor, someone everyone knew was destined to pursue a career on the stage in some form.
One of the bands in our rotation was My Chemical Romance. Their glam-inspired rock operas matched the agitated and restless spirits we had as teenagers.
So when I sit down with Charlotte now, she is fresh from touring with My Chemical Romance, even performing in the famous Wembley Stadium in London with the wildly famous band; I shed a tear or two out of pride.
You might like
Charlotte is back in Adelaide at the moment, preparing to hit the stage for State Opera South Australia’s production of Carmen.
In an interview at State Opera headquarters, she caught me up on her life post-high school (she’s married now and living in San Francisco) and told me why Carmen is perfect for opera newcomers and veterans.
The French opera by Georges Bizet is considered one of the most popular operas ever written.
It follows the namesake lead, Carmen – one of theatre’s most famous femme fatale characters as she flows through the tale of obsession and jealousy.
The songs are also wildly recognisable; the “Habanera” features in Pixar’s Up, The Simpsons regularly spoofs the opera and some of the music has even gone viral on TikTok.
Charlotte says Carmen director Laura Hansford “understands all of the characters and their motivations, and then works with us to find our own spin on the character”.
“She’s very collaborative. I feel like all of the characters are very fleshed out and real.”
Subscribe for updates
For Charlotte, Carmen is the “ideal role to play”; “Everyone loves her or hates her, and she’s divisive because she is so true to herself. She is both feared and adored”.
“Women want to be her, men want to be with her, and the other way around – she is such a magnetic force of nature within the opera,” she says.
Charlotte – born in Melbourne but raised in Adelaide and trained at the Elder Conservatorium before heading to London to train at the Royal College of Music – says women will find something in common with Carmen.
“Whether or not I specifically relate to Carmen – because she’s a smuggler, she’s a very complicated person, she’s killed people – what Laura and I have been trying to get at in her is to make her not a stereotype or a caricature,” Charlotte says.
“She’s not just a woman; she’s a girl. She’s had a tough life, and who is she when she’s not performing for people?
“I think that’s the thing I love most about her, and I think that people will relate to – particularly in this production – because we’re not showing her as this idealised version or putting her on a pedestal. We’re showing who she is when she’s not being herself for other people.”
Alongside Charlotte, tenor Gerard Schneider will pay Don Josė, baritone Samuel Dale Johnson will plau Escamillo and soprano Desiree Frahn will play Micaëla, collaborating with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and State Opera Chorus.
The production director Laura Hansford is also thrilled to return to South Australia for this new production of Carmen.
“I could not be more excited to come back to Adelaide and work with the team at State Opera South Australia. The world Bizet created for us in Carmen is filled with passion, colour, wit, humour, friendship, and genuine humanity, and I cannot wait to see what we can create together,” Hansford says.
Charlotte says it is the “perfect first-time opera”.
“It’s just banger after banger,” she says.
“The music is iconic; it’s so beautiful. And there’s a bit of everything: fight scenes, dances, love, obsession – even two love triangles.”
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
