Anna Gindlesperger
Assistant Editor
February 4, 2005
More than 900 patrons filled the seats of Seeger Chapel Monday evening to see the Asheville Lyric Opera Company’s production of Bizet's opera, “Carmen,” sponsored by East Tennessee State University Opera Theatre.
Director and producer Dr. Oliver Lo said that the audience was larger than he was expecting.
The entirety of Bizet's “Carmen” is typically performed in French. However, for Monday's performance the actors said their spoken lines in English and sang the songs in French, with an English translation on a screen above the stage.
"Surprisingly to me," said Dr. Pat Magness, professor of humanities, "the one weakness was having the words translated on the screen. All that gorgeous music for - in most cases - rather meaningless words!"
Lo, who hopes Milligan will host the ETSU Opera Theatre again in the future, said, "Seeger is the best place to sing in the Tri-Cities area."
Dr. Ted Thomas, associate professor of humanities, history and German, also called attention to the “wonderful acoustics of Seeger Chapel.” He said the building is a "gem (that) has not gone unnoticed by ETSU and the Asheville Lyric Opera."
“The Asheville Lyric Opera Company’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen” was a resounding success,” said Dr. Richard Major, professor of theater, “and hopefully the beginning of a new tradition for music lovers of all ages in the Tri-Cities.”
Dr. Thomas agrees. “If I knew far enough ahead of time what next year’s opera would be, I would encourage us to include it in the Humanities curriculum so that the student body could be prepared to appreciate and enjoy the production.”
“Carmen” tells the story of 19th century military officer (Don Jose) who falls in love with a gypsy girl (Carmen), forgetting a girl from his hometown (Micaela). Assigned the task of guarding Carmen as prisoner, Don Jose finally yields to her and lets her escape, landing himself in prison. Carmen waits for her lover to be released, but in the meantime a bullfighter, Escamillo, falls in love with Carmen. Don Jose is released from prison and meets Carmen, who tries to convince him to leave his job and join the gypsies.
After a series of events, Don Jose joins the gypsy party. The gypsies leave Don Jose alone at the camp for the evening while they perform a planned smuggling mission. While there, Don Jose meets Escamillo, and the two begin to fight after discovering they both love the same woman. The gypsies return and break up the fight as Micaela comes rushing in to tell Don Jose that his mother is dying, and he must return home. Don Jose pledges to see Carmen again, then leaves with Micaela.
In the last act, Don Jose meets up again with Carmen at a bullfighting arena in which Escamillo is one of the contestants. Don Jose begs Carmen to come back with him but she refuses and confesses that she now loves Escamillo. Furious, Don Jose will not let her back into the ring but instead stabs her. As the crowd and Escamillo rush onto the stage, Don Jose sobs over lifeless Carmen.