The Met’s ‘Carmen’ at cinemas

RICHARD Eyre directs Georges Bizet’s steamy melodrama, Carmen, at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

The four-act opera comique (with its musical numbers separated by dialogue) is the story of the downfall of Don José (played by Aleksandrs Antonenko, pictured above) a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy, Carmen (Anita Rachvelishvili, below).

He abandons his childhood sweetheart and runs away from his military duties, but loses Carmen to the glamourous toreador Escamillo, at which point José kills Carmen.

Back when this was first performed in 1875, the death of the main character, depiction of immorality, proletariat life and general lawlessness was groundbreaking and highly controversial, but Bizet never got to see how his production gain celebrity.

Today Carmen contains some of the most popular melodies in opera and continues to be one of the most performed productions on the Met and other stages. And, to think, immediately after the Paris premiere the French public were indifferent and the critics unimpressed.

Georgian mezzo-soprano Rachvelishvili sings her signature title role as the ill-fated gypsy temptress. Antonenko plays her desperate lover, soldier Don José, and Ildar Abradazakov is the swaggering bullfighter, Escamillo, who comes between them.

Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the score which features one beloved and instantly recognised melody after another.

On screen Carmen runs for 218 minutes with one intermission.

The opera screens on Cinema Nouveau screens tomorrow and December 9 at 5pm; Sunday at 2.30pm; Tuesday and December 11 at 11.30am and Dec 11 at 5.30pm. – Film Writer