Music

“The Story of Carmen” is based on the French Opera Carmen, with music by Georges Bizet (1838 -75) and libretto by H. Meilhac and L. Halevy after the original short story by Prosper Merimee (1803-1870).

The production will take the form of a series of scenes carefully selected and adapted in order to reduce the total performance time from two-and-a-half hours to approximately 70 minutes. The scenes will be linked together with brief narratives spoken in the local dialect by an actor in the guise of the original author, Merimee, who will present the powerful story as a succinct and cohesive work of art. The script of the narrative will be specially written for this production by Prof. Lo Kingman, who is director of the entire project.

There will be 12 musical numbers comprising the most famous and effective pages of the opera. The scenes will be fully staged with costumes and scenery specially designed in a style that emphasizes simplicity, refinement and dramatic appeal.

Each performance consists of twelve musical numbers:

．Prelude
．Habanera: Love is a rebellious bird
．Duet: Mother’s blessing
．Seguidilla: Temptation and escape
．Gypsy Song
．Toreador Song
．Smugglers’ Quintet
．Flower Song
．La Liberte
．Micaela’s aria
．The Fight
．The murder

The above numbers are linked by a narrator telling the story from the view-point of the original author, Prosper Merimee.