Carmen

Passion and death are inseparably bound in Bizet’s fiery drama of two men’s love for a gypsy girl. Bizet was commissioned to write the three-act opera, based on Prosper Mérimée’s similarly titled novel, in 1872 for the Paris Opéra-Comique. Despite its initial opening in Paris being met with incomprehension, Carmen now is an international classic and one of the most successful operas of all time – something the composer himself never got to witness as he died three months after its premiere. Carmen bewitches and seduces men, then discards them as easily as she does the cigarettes she makes. Her latest conquest, the soldier Don José, struggles to accept her fickleness, and when she leaves him for the handsome toreador Escamillo, the soldier’s passion turns deadly. This timeless love triangle never fails to capture the imagination of audiences of all generations. From the vivacious “Toreador Song” to perhaps the most famous aria of all, “The Habanera,” the rapturously melodic music of Carmen is more than unparalleled; it’s unforgettable.

This uniquely intimate and theatrical Carmen extends our collaboration with Dominique Serrand (The Miser, Amerika) and the 2005 Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune, for whom opera is a natural development of their spectacular stagecraft. Mr. Serrand views the piece as one that demonstrates the struggle of morality vs. human desire and distills the essence of Bizet’s grand pageant to create a potent and volatile chamber opera between the four principals, accompanied by dueling grand pianos. A sold-out hit in Minneapolis and winner of Outstanding Musical of 2003 by the Star Tribune, the production is now being restaged with the A.R.T. actors, singers and dancers joining the Jeune Lune company, with a new set design for the Loeb Stage.

Produced in association with Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Production originally conceived by Christina Baldwin, Bradley Greenwald, Jennifer Baldwin Peden, Dominique Serrand and performed at Theatre de la Jeune Lune in the fall of 2003.