Production Dates

December 16 – 18, 2022

7:00 pm

Sebits Auditorium

Friends University

Wichita, Kansas

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Production Personnel

Director: Paul Houghtaling

Assistant Director: Mark Anthony Vallejo

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Music Director/Conductor: Casey Robards

Pianist-Coaches: Yu-Hsuan Lu, Ga-Young Park

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Costume Designer: Jen Stephenson

Set Design/Construction: J. Bradley Baker, Paul Houghtaling

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Cast

Carmen: 

Autumn Capocci, JoAna Rusche, Whitney Myers

Don José:

Benjamin Krutsch, Zachary Taylor, Hugo Vera

Escamillo:

Chris Drago Fistonich, WeiShu Tsai

Micaëla:

Maria Bozich, Jenna Grissom, Hannah Moreno

Zuniga:

WeiShu Tsai, Alex Kolyszko

Moralès:

Jacob Tabatowski-Bush, Brandon Whitish

Frasquita:

Julia Damore, Yaqi Yang, Lauren Florek

Mercédès:

Christina Casey Ray, Madelin Morales, Stephanie Shelden

Le Dancaïre:

Pablo Aun, Noah B. Rogers

Le Remendado:

De'Courtneyous Miller, Davian Raggio, René Vazquez

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Ensemble: 

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Rebecca Beck**

Evangeline Mason

Courtney San Martin

Jules Furgal

Hannah Howard

Madalyn Luna✓

Kaitlin Pearson

Madison Kavanaugh✶

José Montañez

Dylan Rausch★

Jacob Stucki

Sergey Martsenyuk►

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**Micaëla cover

✓Carmen cover

✶Mercédès cover

★Le Remendado cover

►Escamillo cover

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Orchestra:

Chelley Graves, Violin I/Concertmaster

Addison Wegerle, Violin II

Joseph Schmitt, Viola

Troy Cassidy, Cello

Erin Thompson, Oboe

Sarah Rodriguez, Flute

Brandon Rodriguez, Clarinet

Zachary Hague, Bassoon

Ga-Young Park, Orchestra Keyboard

Yu-Hsuan Lu, Orchestra Keyboard

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About Carmen

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Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalised its first audiences.

 

Language: Sung in French

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Composition Date: 1875

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Runtime: 2 hours, 45 minutes

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Plot Summary:

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Act 1
A square, in Seville. 

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A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard and commenting on the passers-by. Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that "José is not yet on duty" and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later. José arrives with the new guard, who is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins.

As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd. Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love. The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed by her insolence.

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As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother. He reads that his mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. Just as José declares that he is ready to heed his mother's wishes, the women stream from the factory in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a knife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance; Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a night of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia's tavern. Confused yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.

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Act 2
Lillas Pastia's Inn

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Two months have passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers in Pastia's inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José's release from two months' detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo. Invited inside, he introduces himself with the "Toreador Song" and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him aside. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.

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When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently acquired contraband. Frasquita and Mercédès are keen to help them, but Carmen refuses, since she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance, but her song is joined by a distant bugle call from the barracks. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers by showing her the flower that she threw to him in the square. Unconvinced, Carmen demands he show his love by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight. Carmen summons her gypsy comrades, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers.

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Act 3

A wild spot in the mountains

 

Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty; Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go back to his mother. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards; Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José's. The smugglers depart to transport their goods while the women distract the local customs officers. José is left behind on guard duty.

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Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and determined to rescue him from Carmen. On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; it is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José's pleasure at meeting the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight, but are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls. As Escamillo leaves he invites everyone to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José will not leave with her despite Carmen's mockery, but he agrees to go when told that his mother is dying. He departs, vowing he will return. Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador's song.

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Act 4

A square in Seville. At the back, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre

 

Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the crowd awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters. Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they express their mutual love. As Escamillo goes into the arena, Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that José is nearby, but Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José. While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, cheers are heard from the arena. As José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed by the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!"; as the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing Carmen.