Passion of Bizet's Opera "Carmen" Strikes BalletMet in Ohio

David Ward and Adrienne Benz in Carmen (Photo: Fred Squillante/The Columbus Dispatch)

"Carmen, the great story of Spanish passion, will be performed by BalletMet Columbus starting Friday in the Riffe Center’s Capitol Theatre. Set in early 19th-century Spain, Carmen centers on a beautiful, strong-willed woman with a fiery temper and her lover, army corporal Don Jose, who gives his all to the affair. Soon, though, her love shifts to Escamillo, a bullfighter, and the scorned suitor stabs his beloved to death. French composer Georges Bizet wrote the music for the work, among the most popular in the operatic repertory. Italian choreographer Amedeo Amodio, whose adaptation of Carmen will be used by BalletMet, is one of several choreographers who have translated the opera into dance. The production will be the third version of Carmen that the company has performed and the first in 14 years...Amodio retains Bizet’s lush music, applying it to what he calls a “contemporary ballet” in which dancers wear pointe shoes, soft shoes and, sometimes, no shoes. His Carmen begins, literally, where the traditional opera ends, with the demise of the title character and the curtain falling. The curtain rises again, to reveal post-opera backstage bustle, including a male fan with flowers, a truck driver and a woman violinist from the orchestra." [Source]