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L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
February 11 - March 25, 2017
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CARMEN
Synopsis
ACT ONE
In a town square in Seville, Spain, soldiers guarding the cigarette
factory idly watch the passersby. Micaëla, a young country girl,
enters the square in search of one of the soldiers, Don José.
Led by an officer, Moralès, the soldiers surround her and try to
detain her, but Micaëla flees.
Afterwards, José’s military unit arrives. At noon, the young
men of the town gather to watch the women as they come
out of the cigarette factory on a break from work. One of the
women, the gypsy Carmen, tells her friends that love is “a wild
bird that cannot be imprisoned.” Before returning to work, she
flirtatiously tosses a flower at Don José. Micaëla returns, this
time with a letter from José’s mother. José resolves to honor his
mother’s wishes by marrying Micaëla.
Suddenly, screams are heard from the factory: Carmen has been
involved in a fight and has slashed another woman’s face. While
Lieutenant Zuniga drafts the order for her imprisonment, she is
put into José’s custody. Carmen persuades him to let her escape
by promising a future rendezvous.
ACT TWO
At Lillas Pastia’s inn, Carmen and two friends, Frasquita and
Mercédès, sing of the gypsy life. Lieutenant Zuniga tells Carmen
that José was thrown in prison for allowing her to escape, but
that he has just been released. The bullfighter Escamillo arrives
with his entourage and asks Carmen if she will ever love him.
Dancaïre and Remendado, two revolutionaries, try to convince
Carmen and her friends to accompany them on their next
mission, but Carmen refuses, saying she is in love with José and
is awaiting his return.
When José arrives, Carmen sings and dances for him, but a
distant bugle sounds and he says he must return to the barracks
immediately. She invites him to desert the army and join
the revolutionaries, but he refuses, and Carmen mocks his
cowardice. As he is leaving, José encounters Zuniga, who has
come in hopes of seeing Carmen. The jealous José strikes his
superior officer. Now an outlaw, he has no choice but to desert
the army and join Carmen and her friends.
ACT THREE
The revolutionaries are busy moving their shipment of rifles
through the dangerous hillside. Carmen, now tired of José’s
jealousy, reads her fortune in the playing cards. She draws the
death card.
When the revolutionaries head down the mountain to bribe
the customs officer, José is left as a lookout. On her way up the
mountain to find José, Micaëla hears a rifle shot and takes cover.
José has fired a warning shot at Escamillo, who has come in
search of Carmen. Escamillo tells José he is in love with Carmen
and they start to fight but are separated by the returning gang.
Remendado then discovers Micaëla, who has come to beg José
to return home to his dying mother. Carmen urges him to leave;
José is convinced she wants to be rid of him in order to take up
with Escamillo. José leaves with Micaëla, warning Carmen that
he will come back.
ACT FOUR
An excited crowd gathers for the bullfight. Outside the ring,
Frasquita and Mercédès pull Carmen aside and tell her to
be careful because José has been seen in the crowd. Carmen,
however, ignores their warnings and bravely remains for a final
encounter. José pleads desperately with her to come back to
him. As she tells him she can never love him again, the crowd is
heard cheering Escamillo’s victory in the ring. Realizing that he
can never possess Carmen, José stabs her to death.
Reprinted by permission of Houston Grand Opera.
CARMEN – Approximate Timings
ACT ONE 50 minutes
ACT TWO 35 minutes
Intermission
30 minutes
ACT THREE 35 minutes
ACT FOUR 20 minutes
Total 2 hours, 50 minutes