The Ties that Bind:
Bizet’s Carmen at the Nashville Opera
The lights in the theatre dim and the chattering crowd is suddenly silent, drinks with condensation dripping off them clutched tightly as the orchestra, one behemoth of magical sound, begins to tune… Georges Bizet’s Carmen is a well-known opera and is frequently performed in opera houses around the country. Even so, Nashville opera showed us last Thursday and Saturday night that there are still new and intriguing ways to tell the story of Carmen. As the red curtains rose Thursday night, a multi-colored courtyard was set before the audience. Unlike the original setting of Carmen in Spain, this version is a modern-day setting of a southern, Tex-Mex style courtyard where a factory can be seen on the right, and a guard’s post on the left. The scene comes further to life with the rowdy opera chorus, dressed as guards, factory workers, and even tourists in bright pink hats and cowboy boots, all of which co-mingle, flirt, and even get into fights. Most prominent of all the factory workers is, of course, the unforgettable Carmen. Marina Costa-Jackson makes her Nashville Opera debut as Carmen, the fiery and independent heroine who captures people’s hearts with a mere glance. In the first act,Read More
