Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 7 - Carmen

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Synopsis continued revolutionaries, but he refuses, and Carmen mocks his cowardice. As he is leaving, José encounters Zuniga, who has come in hopes of seeing Carmen. The jealous José strikes his superior of cer. Now an outlaw, he has no choice but to desert the army and join Carmen and her friends. INTERMISSION ACT III The revolutionaries are busy moving their shipment of ri es through the dangerous hillside. Carmen, now tired of José’s jealousy, reads her fortune in the playing cards. She draws the death card. When the revolutionaries head down the mountain to bribe the customs of cer, José is left as a lookout. On her way up the mountain to nd José, Micaëla hears a ri e shot and takes cover. José has red a warning shot at Escamillo, who has come in search of Carmen. Escamillo tells José he is in love with Carmen, and they start to ght but are separated by the returning gang. Remendado then discovers Micaëla, who has come to beg José to return home to his dying mother. Carmen urges him to leave; José is convinced she wants to be rid of him in order to take up with Escamillo. José leaves with Micaëla, warning Carmen that he will come back. ACT IV An excited crowd gathers for the bull ght. Outside the ring, Frasquita and Mercédès pull Carmen aside and tell her to be careful because José has been seen in the crowd. Carmen, however, ignores their warnings and bravely remains for a nal encounter. José pleads desperately with her to come back to him. As she tells him she can never love him again, the crowd is heard cheering Escamillo’s victory in the ring. Realizing that he can never possess Carmen, José stabs her to death. Reprinted by permission of Houston Grand Opera.