With her shock of tight black curls, heaving corseted bosom and voluptuous yet tiny frame, Tania Kross plays Carmen as a feisty little firecracker.

Although smaller than the majority of the female cast, her presence is explosive from the second she struts on stage.

Like a cracking whip, she demands attention with powerful authority, dragging unsuspecting soldiers into her smothering cleavage and bouncing male admirers aside with each sassy swing of her hips.

Only 32, the mezzo soprano from Curacao, a small island in the Dutch Antilles, brings incredible maturity to the role but, at times, lacks Carmen's dark and dangerous edge.

Her bubbly charm combined with the sweet richness of her voice can make her appear more like a naughty little sister than a manipulative femme fatale.

In this revival of David McVicar's 2002 production, Seville is a humid and shadowy city, where subterranean bars throb with the threat of violence and hot bodies entwine to the carnal rhythms of tango.

Michael Vale's set is dramatically claustrophobic with walkways, metal pipes and stairways creating a cage-like maze within which danger brews and emotions fester.

This bold and confident staging gives the production a gripping intensity, which builds like a pressure cooker to its explosive and murderous conclusion.

As Don Jose, Brandon Jovanovich brilliantly unravels from the once proud corporal to a pathetic coward, plagued by jealousy and revenge.

Kate Royal plays Micaela as a haunting reminder of all he has lost in his relentless pursuit of the untamable Carmen. The power of her portrayal is in the stillness of her movement and the piercing purity of her voice.

Conductor Stephane Deneve competes with Kross on the curl front, with a bouncing mane of strawberry blonde ringlets which dance boisterously with every enthusiastic sweep of his baton.

His dynamism was reflected perfectly by the London Philharmonic Orchestra who played with refined passion.