Carmen

COMPOSER - Frank Wildhorn

LYRICIST - Jack Murphy

LIBRETTIST: Norman Allen

Premiere:

THEATRE - Karlin Musical Theatre, Prague

OPENING NIGHT - October 2nd, 2008

ORIGINAL CAST - Dasha, Markéta Poulíčková, Robert Jícha, Peter Strenáčik, Václav Noid Bárta, Martin Pošta, Pavla Břínková, Lukáš Kumpricht, Tomáš Trapl, Jiří Korn, Josef Štágr, Athina Langoská, Hanka Křížková

DIRECTOR - Gabriel Barre

CHOREOGRAPHER - Pavel Strouhal

PRODUCER - Egon Kulhánek, Lucie Bílá and Petr Kratochvíl

MUSICAL DIRECTOR - Jason Howland

ORCHESTRATIONS - Kim Scharnberg

SET DESIGN - Andrea Bartha

COSTUMEDESIGN - Andrea Bartha

LIGHTING DESIGN - Pavel Dautovský

SOUND DESIGN - Petr Ackerman

Synopsis:

A contemporary tale inspired by the Prosper Mérimée novel, which contains the essence of the famous characters but explores the story in a brand new way

1830s, Seville, Spain. Carmen attracts everyone's attention, but soldier Don José pretends not to notice her. The flirtatious Carmen throws him a flower. He intends to throw it away, but hides it when his girlfriend, Micaëla, arrives. A knife fight breaks out between Carmen and another woman, and José is ordered to arrest Carmen. Thinking fast, Carmen seduces José and escapes, which results in José's arrest for breach of duty.

A month later, Carmen and her friends are entertaining soldiers in a tavern. A famous bullfighter, Escamillo, arrives. He flirts with Carmen, who rebuffs him because she is waiting for José to be released from jail. When José arrives, Carmen rewards him with an erotic dance. As he prepares to return to the barracks for the night, she taunts him, saying that if he really loved her, he would run off with her. José protests and shows her that he has saved the flower she gave him as a sign of true love. At that moment, Jose's lieutenant returns to arrest Carmen. The men fight and are separated by Carmen's gang of smugglers. Because José has attacked a superior officer, he has no choice but to run away with Carmen and the smugglers to the mountains.

In the mountains, Carmen bores of José and advises him to go home to his mother. Escamillo arrives and invites everyone to his next bullfight before he leaves. The closing act depicts Escamillo's bullfight. Carmen is on Escamillo's arm, but she runs into José outside the arena. José begs Carmen to come away with him, but she refuses, saying that she was born free and will die free. In a jealous rage, José stabs her to death while the crowd inside the arena cheers Escamillo to victory.

Production History:

2008 - Prague

2013 - Seoul

2014 - Tokyo 

2015 - Kaunas

2019 - Winzendorf

"Truly the best show staged recently"

-Publication

"Marvelously fluid and inventive"

-The Prague Post