Carmen: Met Opera Encore

Showings

Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sat, Jul 22, 2017 12:00 PM
Film Info
Event Type:Met Live Opera Encore
Release Year:2009/2010
Run Time:3 hours
Met Company
Conductor:Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Opera Company:Elina Garanca (Carmen)
Roberto Alagna (Don José)
Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Escamillo)
Barbara Frittoli (Micaela)
Production:Richard Eyre
Set Designer:Rob Howell
Costume Designer:Rob Howell
Lighting Designer:Peter Mumford
Choreographer:Christopher Wheeldon

Description

Bizet's
Carmen
from the 2009/2010 season

Cast: Elina Garanca, Roberto Alagna, Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Sir Richard Eyre’s gritty production of Bizet’s steamy melodrama returns with mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca as the ill-fated gypsy temptress. Tenor Roberto Alagna plays her desperate lover, the soldier Don José, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes is the swaggering bullfighter, Escamillo, who comes between them. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the timeless score, which features one beloved melody after another.

Bizet’s masterpiece of the gypsy seductress who lives by her own rules, no matter what the cost, has had an impact far beyond the opera house. The opera’s melodic sweep is as irresistible as the title character herself, a force of nature who has become a defining female cultural figure. This drama of a soldier torn between doing the right thing and the woman he cannot resist bursts with melody and seethes with all the erotic vitality of its unforgettable title character. Carmen was a scandal at its premiere and was roundly denounced in the press for its flagrant immorality. The power of the music and the drama, however, created an equally vocal faction in favor of the work. The composer Tchaikovsky and the philosopher Nietzsche both praised the opera, the latter identifying in the robustness of the score nothing less than a cure-all for the world’s spiritual ills.

Act I
In Seville by a cigarette factory, soldiers comment on the townspeople. Among them is Micae¨la, a peasant girl, who asks for a corporal named Don Jose´. Morale`s, another corporal, tells her he will return with the changing of the guard. The relief guard, headed by Lieutenant Zuniga, soon arrives, and Jose´ learns from Morale`s that Micae¨la has been looking for him. When the factory bell rings, the men of Seville gather to watch the female workers—especially their favorite, the Gypsy Carmen. She tells her admirers that love is free and obeys no rules. Only one man pays no attention to her: Don Jose´. Carmen throws a flower at him, and the girls go back to work. Jose´ picks up the flower and hides it when Micae¨la returns. She brings a letter from Jose´’s mother, who lives in a village in the countryside. As he begins to read the letter, Micae¨la leaves. Jose´ is about to throw away the flower when a fight erupts inside the factory between Carmen and another girl. Zuniga sends Jose´ to retrieve the Gypsy. Carmen refuses to answer Zuniga’s questions, and Jose´ is ordered to take her to prison. Left alone with him, she entices Jose´ with suggestions of a rendezvous at Lillas Pastia’s tavern. Mesmerized, he agrees to let her get away. As they leave for prison, Carmen escapes. Don Jose´ is arrested.

Act II
Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Merce´de`s entertain the guests at the tavern. Zuniga tells Carmen that Jose´ has just been released. The bullfighter Escamillo enters, boasting about the pleasures of his profession, and flirts with Carmen, who tells him that she is involved with someone else. After the tavern guests have left with Escamillo, the smugglers Dancai¨re and Remendado explain their latest scheme to the women. Frasquita and Merce´de`s are willing to help, but Carmen refuses because she is in love. The smugglers withdraw as Jose´ approaches. Carmen arouses his jealousy by telling him how she danced for Zuniga. She dances for him now, but when a bugle call is heard he says he must return to the barracks. Carmen mocks him. To prove his love, Jose´ shows her the flower she threw at him and confesses how its scent made him not lose hope during the weeks in prison. She is unimpressed: if he really loved her, he would desert the army and join her in a life of freedom in the mountains. Jose´ refuses, and Carmen tells him to leave. Zuniga bursts in, and in a jealous rage Jose´ fights him. The smugglers return and disarm Zuniga. Jose´ now has no choice but to join them.

Act III
Carmen and Jose´ quarrel in the smugglers’ mountain hideaway. She admits that her love is fading and advises him to return to live with his mother. When Frasquita and Merce´de`s turn the cards to tell their fortunes, they foresee love and riches for themselves, but Carmen’s cards spell death—for her and for Jose´. Micae¨la appears, frightened by the mountains and afraid to meet the woman who has turned Jose´ into a criminal. She hides when a shot rings out. Jose´ has fired at an intruder, who turns out to be Escamillo. He tells Jose´ that he has come to find Carmen, and the two men fight. The smugglers separate them, and Escamillo invites everyone, Carmen in particular, to his next bullfight. When he has left, Micae¨la emerges and begs Jose´ to return home. He agrees when he learns that his mother is dying, but before he leaves he warns Carmen that they will meet again.

Act IV
Back in Seville, the crowd cheers the bullfighters on their way to the arena. Carmen arrives on Escamillo’s arm, and Frasquita and Merce´de`s warn her that Jose´ is nearby. Unafraid, she waits outside the entrance as the crowds enter the arena. Jose´ appears and begs Carmen to forget the past and start a new life with him. She calmly tells him that their affair is over: she was born free and free she will die. The crowd is heard cheering Escamillo. Jose´ keeps trying to win Carmen back. She takes off his ring and throws it at his feet before heading for the arena. Jose´ stabs her to death.