Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 7 - Carmen

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 20 Additional support is provided by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Production Circle. Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Of cial Airline,American Airlines. Additional costumes provided by Seams Unlimited,Laura Whitlock,Tricorne Inc., Ken Zhang,Tailor. APPROXIMATE TIMINGS Act 1 55 minutes Intermission 25 minutes Act 2 40 minutes Intermission 20 minutes Acts 3 & 4 65 minutes Total 3 hours 25 minutes ACT I In a town square in Seville, Spain, soldiers guarding the cigarette factory idly watch the passersby. Micaëla, a young country girl, enters the square in search of one of the soldiers, Don José. Led by an of cer, Moralès, the soldiers surround her and try to detain her, but Micaëla ees. Afterwards, José’s military unit arrives. At noon, the young men of the town gather to watch the women as they come out of the cigarette factory on a break from work. One of the women, the Roma woman Carmen, tells her friends that love is “a wild bird that cannot be imprisoned.” Before returning to work, she irtatiously tosses a ower at Don José. Micaëla returns, this time with a letter from José’s mother. José resolves to honor his mother’s wishes by marrying Micaëla. Suddenly, screams are heard from the factory: Carmen has been involved in a ght and has slashed another woman’s face. While Lieutenant Zuniga drafts the order for her imprisonment, she is put into José’s custody. Carmen persuades him to let her escape by promising a future rendezvous. INTERMISSION ACT II At Lillas Pastia’s inn, Carmen and two friends, Frasquita and Mercédès, sing of the life of the Roma people. Lieutenant Zuniga tells Carmen that José was thrown in prison for allowing her to escape, but that he has just been released. The bull ghter Escamillo arrives with his entourage and asks Carmen if she will ever love him. Dancaïre and Remendado, two revolutionaries, try to convince Carmen and her friends to accompany them on their next mission, but Carmen refuses, saying she is in love with José and is awaiting his return. When José arrives, Carmen sings and dances for him, but a distant bugle sounds, and he says he must return to the barracks immediately. She invites him to desert the army and join the PRODUCTION SPONSORS Liz Stiffel The Lauter McDougal Charitable Fund Synopsis TIME | Around 1820 PLACE | Seville