Carmen

Plot synopsis:
Place: Seville, Spain, and surrounding hills
Time: Around 1820
Act 1
A square, in Seville. On the right, a door to the tobacco factory. At the back, a bridge. On the left, a guardhouse.
A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard and commenting on the passers-by ("Sur la place, chacun passe"). Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that "José is not yet on duty" and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later. José arrives with the new guard, who is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins ("Avec la garde montante").
As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd ("La cloche a sonné"). Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed by her insolence.
As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother ("Parle-moi de ma mère!"). He reads that his mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. Just as José declares that he is ready to heed his mother's wishes, the women stream from the factory in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a knife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance ("Tra la la... Coupe-moi, brûle-moi"); Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a night of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia's tavern. Confused yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.
Act 2
Lillas Pastia's Inn
Two months have passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers ("Les tringles des sistres tintaient") in Pastia's inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José's release from two month's detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo ("Vivat, vivat le Toréro"). Invited inside, he introduces himself with the "Toreador Song" ("Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre") and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him aside. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.
When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, the smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently acquired contraband ("Nous avons en tête une affaire"). Frasquita and Mercédès are keen to help them, but Carmen refuses, since she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance ("Je vais danser en votre honneur ... La la la"), but her song is joined by a distant bugle call from the barracks. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers by showing her the flower that she threw to him in the square ("La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"). Unconvinced, Carmen demands he show his love by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight, and are separated by the returning smugglers, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers ("Suis-nous à travers la campagne").
Act 3
A wild spot in the mountains
Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty ("Écoute, écoute, compagnons"); Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go back to his mother. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards; Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José's. The women depart to suborn the customs officers who are watching the locality. José is placed on guard duty.
Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and determined to rescue him from Carmen ("Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante"). On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; it is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José's pleasure at meeting the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight ("Je suis Escamillo, toréro de Grenade"), but are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls ("Holà, holà José"). As Escamillo leaves he invites everyone to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José will not leave with her despite Carmen's mockery, but he agrees to go when told that his mother is dying. As he departs, vowing he will return, Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador's song.
Act 4
A square in Seville. At the back, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre
Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the crowd awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters ("Les voici ! Voici la quadrille!"). Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they express their mutual love ("Si tu m'aimes, Carmen"). As Escamillo goes into the arena, Frasquita and Mercedes warn Carmen that José is nearby, but Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José ("C'est toi ! C'est moi !"). While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, cheers are heard from the arena. As José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed by the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!"; as the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing the woman he loved.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
radically underrated.
Before all, my English is far too poor to write anything.
But I can't believe my own eyes, seein' so PERFECT production with so PERFECT cast(marvelous Ramey, wonderful Baltsa, very good Carreras)with such low rating 3.4 !!!!!!!
3.4 ??????????????Jesus Christ and God in heaven, one must be blind and totally deaf voting this way.I want to say, that that Carmen (MET Carmen) is the BEST opera I've ever saw (and I saw hundreds of'em, I'm total opera freak)I vote with all my heart 10 PS How, for God's sake, is possible to vote 1, 3 or even 6 for that production ?
Please, write your comments, all you "wrongvoters"PS 2 Sorry for my ghastly English.
Try this, you' ll like it..
This 1987 production of Carmen is quite good.
There is a lot of great singing by Agnes Baltsa and Jose Carreras.Their spoken French lacks precision and fluidity but who cares?, probably not a lot of people will feel this.Agnes Baltsa displays a lot of knowhow as an actress as well as a singer.
Carreras as an actor, well...
but when this man sings you forget about it.And when you think that this was taped in 1987, it becomes rather poignant to see him singing with so much energy and art knowing that he would soon be diagnosed with leukemia.
Kudos for the sets, the costumes and the orchestra direction.« Carmen » can be ruined by badly inspired directors.This is certainly not the case.
I agree with the preceding review.
This is underrated.But I think there is an explanation.
There was once a man who said:« The medium is the message.» Nowadays, alas!
the medium is the culture.
This is traditional opera perhaps but if you consider what we usually see on television these days, this becomes an exceptional 3 hours in your experience as a television viewer.
Many thanks to the Met for keeping this DVD available in the stores and at so low cost.
By doing this they are truly contributing to the democratization of what is badly named « high culture »..
Another stark opera from Deutsche Grammophon.
I've seen "Carmen" before, and even the most modest productions tend to fill the stages with vibrant colors to help enrich Carmen's native atmosphere.But not so here.
The performances are very solid, but the backdrop is hard on the eyes.
Almost as if the director wanted a gritty presentation for this well known piece with an extremely memorable score.I personally found it hard to watch, though nice and easy to listen to.
In fact, as I stated, the performances are very solid, and the singing is top notch.
But the visuals don't compliment the live talent.What the viewer is left with is a mixed bag, probably aimed at presenting a more "real" Carmen.
It's worth looking at, but I've seen better, though admittedly I have not heard better.
Yet when it comes to opera one needs the other.
Judge for yourself..
I like it a lot.
At the time of when it was first premiered, I think Carmen was dismissed as having no memorable tunes.
Evaluating that opinion, I personally find that hard to believe.
While the characters are wonderfully depicted, Carmen is difficult to pull off but also one of my dream roles when and if I turn professional singer but goodness doesn't the character live long into the memory, and the story riveting, the music is a huge part of the reason why I consider Carmen THE French opera.This Met production I like a lot.
And I agree it is underrated, if 3.4 was indeed the score 7 years ago,(unless it was the result of not that many voters) then this is yet again another case of IMDb losing credibility, thank goodness it is much higher now.
The best Carmen I've seen so far is still the 1984 film with Domingo and Mignes-Johnson, but that's not a reason to dismiss this 1987 production, which is reliably done as is the case with the Met.The sets may be a little too gaudy and lacking in authenticity perhaps, however the costumes and video directing are truly excellent and the stage direction is very assured throughout.
The orchestra as always are wonderful and the conducting compliments the rhythms and melodies of the score very well.The performances are very good on the whole.
The weak link in my opinion is Jose Carreras, he looks dashing, has credible chemistry with his co-stars and has a truly lovely voice if a little faulty sometimes with the intonation and phrasing particularly in the first act, but the acting is rather rudimentary for my tastes.
However Agnes Baltsa is a wonderful Carmen, while not as beautiful perhaps as one would like she is flirtatious and sexy as Carmen should be and her singing is rich and flexible.Leona Mitchell is very poignant as Michaela, her act 3 aria had me weeping, but the best performance comes from Samuel Ramey as Escamillo in a role that he is perfect for(alongside Don Giovanni and Attila).
And when it comes to the highlight of the night, my immediate answer would be the Toreador's song, with such power and control not only is Ramey's performance of it the most powerful and most musical singing of the night his rendition is one of the best I've heard too(and yes I have heard Jose Vam Dam, Lawrence Tibbett and Ruggero Raimondi, they're excellent as well).In conclusion, a good production which I like a lot.
8/10 Bethany Cox. You must see Samuel Ramey perform the "Toreador Song".
Samuel Ramey's performance of the "Toreador Song" is so phenomenal, I have to go back and play that part of the opera at least two more times every time I watch the video.
The high note that hits in this area must be heard to be believed and Ramey's power is unparalleled by any bass past or present.However, I thought Jose Carreras was below par due to perceptible pitch problems throughout the opera.Agnes Baltsa is better than your average Carmen and sang rather well.Leona Mitchell is also rather good in her portrayal of Micaela and the supporting cast did a good job in acting and singing their roles.