GQ Encourages A One-Night Stand With Carmen Based On Bieito

"Calixto Bieito's raunchy production of Georges Bizet's Carmen at the English National Opera proves that opera is no longer for the old (or boring). For those of you hoping to expand your horizons, Carmen is the perfect introductory sampler to whet your appetite and keep you coming back for more. The image of opera-goers squinting into their binoculars with their powdery, wrinkly faces is over. A younger audience is quickly encroaching into operatic territory, and here's why. Opera's saving grace comes in the form of Carmen. Why invest in opera now when we've only just managed to master the musical? Sex, that's why, and lots of it. OK, not just sex, but other themes that we can also relate to such as love (love triangles, unrequited love) and lust....This Carmen could very possibly drive a new (younger) audience to the opera. When GQ saw the production, a lady sitting next to us said, 'It's a bit cruder than I remember,' during the intermission. This surprised us, as Carmen is the definitive story of action fuelled [sic] by sexual tension. The story is almost entirely based entirely on sex, infidelity, and hot-blooded desire. And if that doesn't draw younger people to the opera, we're not sure what will." [Source] For more information about Carmen at ENO, click here. Watch a trailer of the production, and see the full cast performing through July 3, after the jump.

Hopelessly Devoted To You: Don José (Eric Cutler) wants more than one night with Carmen (Justina Gringyte).

Carmen  Justina Gringyte

Don José  Eric Cutler

Micaëla  Eleanor Dennis

Escamillo  Leigh Melrose

Frasquita  Rhian Lois

Mercédès  Clare Presland

Moralès  George Humphreys

Dancairo  Geoffrey Dolton

Remendado  Alun Rhys-Jenkins

Zuniga  Graeme Danby

Conductor  Sir Richard Armstrong/ Martin Fitzpatrick (16 & 18 June)