"Bizet's opera Carmen is a powerful presence in our cultural landscape, with melodies such as that of the habanera L'amour est un oiseau rebelle etched into the public's consciousness. The gritty story combines groundbreaking operatic verismo' within the structural framework of the French Opera-Comique', while being infused with the spirit of the Zarzuela, the Spanish musical theatre that helped define the country's national identity."
"The opera inspired Carmen Jones, the 1954 African-American take on the story starring Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte, which in turn gave us Carmen: A Hip Hopera from 2001 with Beyonce in the lead role. There was also Matthew Bourne's sexy dance piece from 2000, The Car Man, that sets the story in an Italian-American-run garage in 1960s America. The opera is in four acts,"
"This fourth revival of the 2012 ENO production, originally directed by Catalan Calixto Bieito in Barcelona, has Jamie Manton at the helm in this co-production with Den Norske Opera and Ballet. We are in early 1970s Spain, the dog days of the fascist regime of General Franco, when a militaristic machismo was central to national identity and women couldn't vote or file for divorce."
Bizet's Carmen features iconic melodies such as the habanera L'amour est un oiseau rebelle and blends operatic verismo with the French Opéra-Comique structure while drawing on Spanish zarzuela traditions. The four-act narrative follows a tragic love affair between Carmen, a gypsy, and Don José, a lower-ranking soldier, set in sultry Seville. The work inspired diverse adaptations including Carmen Jones (1954), Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001), and Matthew Bourne's The Car Man (2000). The libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy was based on Prosper Mérimée's novella and the opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1875. Contemporary stagings often situate the story amid Francoist Spain, emphasising machismo and the cultural centrality of the bullfight.
Read at www.london-unattached.com
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