CARMEN.(Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast)

BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 3, 2001

SPONSORED BY TEXACO OVER THE TEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:00 P.M.

CARMEN

 
THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) 
Morales     baritone, KAMEL BOUTROS 
Micaela     soprano, JANICE WATSON 
Don Jose    tenor, RICHARD LEECH 
Zuniga      bass, VALERIAN RUMINSKI 
Carmen      mezzo, OLGA BORODINA 
Frasquita   soprano, KORLISS UECKER 
Mercedes    mezzo, MARIA ZIFCHAK 
Escamillo   bass, FRANCK FERRARI 
Remendado   tenor, TONY STEVENSON 
Dancaire    baritone, KIM JOSEPHSON 
 
Conducted by BERTRAND DE BILLY 
 
Production: Franco Zeffirelli 
Set designer: Franco Zeffirelli 
Costume designer: Anna Anni 
Lighting designer: Duane Schuler 
Choreographer: Maria Benitez 
Stage director: Peter McClintock 
Chorus master: Raymond Hughes 
Fight director: B. H. Barry 
Musical preparation: 
  Susan Webb, Steven Eldredge, 
  Denise Masse, Steven Crawford 
Assistant stage director: J. Knighten Smit 
Stage band conductor: Gildo Di Nunzio 
Prompter: Susan Webb 
Children's chorus director: Elena Doria 
 
Production a gift of 
  The Annenberg Foundation 
 
THE SCENES                      Timings (ET) 
  (Seville, mid- 19th c.) 
ACT I A square in Seville          1:00-1:52 
ACT II Lillas Pastia's tavern      2:19-3:01 
ACT III In the mountains           3:26- 
ACT IV Outside the bullring            -4:33 
 
Announcer: Peter Allen 
Audio director: Jay David Saks 
 
INTERMISSION FEATURES 
 
Producer: Michael Bronson     Timings 
Father Owen Lee on Carmen   1:52-2:19 
Texaco's Opera Quiz(*)      3:01-3:26 
Thor Eckert Jr. questions Father Owen Lee, 
  Sarah Bryan Miller, Willie Anthony 
  Waters 

(*) Send quiz questions to Texaco's Opera Quiz, F.D.R. Station, P.O. Box 805, N.Y.C. 10150, or via Texaco's homepage at www.texaco.com.

THE STORY

ACT I. In a square in Seville, townspeople and soldiers relax in the sun, watching the passing crowd. Micaela arrives in search of her sweetheart, Don Jose, a corporal. A fellow officer, Morales, tells her Jose will be along soon; when he offers himself as a substitute, she leaves hastily. As the guard changes, children parade, imitating the arriving soldiers ("Avec la garde montante"), one of whom is Jose. At the sound of the noon bell, girls from the cigarette factory come to smoke and chat ("Dans l'air"). Carmen, a Gypsy who works in the factory, flirts with the local men, airing her philosophy of life: love is a wild bird that cannot be tamed (Habanera: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). Jose sits apart, distracted. Drawn by his indifference, Carmen tosses him a flower from her bodice as the work bell calls the girls back inside. His musings on the bewitching "sorceress" are interrupted by Micaela, who brings news of Jose's mother. She has sent him a kiss, which the girl delivers shyly ("Parle-moi de ma mere"). No sooner has she left than a disturbance is heard in the factory: Carmen is involved in a fight. The girls run out, arguing over who started it. Lt. Zuniga orders Jose to arrest Carmen, who insolently refuses to answer their questions. Her wrists bound, she is left alone with Jose, who forbids her to speak to him. Instead, she flirtatiously sings "to herself" about Lillas Pastia's inn and the rendezvous she might make with "a certain officer" who has taken her fancy (Seguidilla: "Pres des remparts de Seville"). Jose, intoxicated, agrees to let her escape in exchange for the promised rendezvous; when she pushes him to the ground and runs off, he is arrested for his negligence.