The Threepenny Carmen

Past Production

Cast

Megan Marino
Carmen
(April 15, 17, 23, 25)

Ashley Dixon
Carmen
(April 28, 30, May 2, 6, 8)

Jasmine Habersham
Micaëla

Richard Trey Smagur
Don Jose

Michael Mayes
Escamillo
(April 15, 17, 23, 25)

Theo Hoffman
Escamillo
(April 28, 30, May 2, 6, 8)

Creative

Jorge Parodi
Conductor

Tomer Zvulun
Stage Director

Bruno Baker
Assistant Director

Julia Noulin-Merat
Set Designer

Joanna Schmink
Costume Designer

Erin Teachman
Projection Designer

Marcella Barbeau
Lighting Designer

Composer: Georges Bizet
Librettist: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy
Premiere Date: March 3, 1875: Opéra-Comique, Paris

Carmen is no stranger to The Threepenny Bar. In this watering hole at the crossroads of nowhere, everyone has a story.

The Atlanta Opera’s all-new version of this beloved classic explores a modern Carmen. Set at the fringes of society, Bizet’s music is intertwined with the dramatic stomps and flourishes of flamenco.

The Threepenny Carmen walks a thin line between lust and death in one of opera’s most iconic love triangles.

Starring Megan Marino as Carmen, Michael Mayes as Escamillo, Richard Trey Smagur as Don Jose, and Tom Key as seedy bar owner Lilas Pastia. This production features flamenco superstar Sonia Olla.

Performed in French with English supertitles

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part of the 2020-21 Molly Blank Big Tent Series
production sponsored by Dr. Harold Brody & Mr. Donald Smith

The Threepenny Carmen is not simply a stripped down version of the original opera, it digs into what Bizet’s 1875 classic might mean for audiences today. Capturing its essence as an exploration of sexual freedom, social hierarchies and the class system.

Directed by Tomer Zvulun, The Atlanta Opera General & Artistic Directior, this world premiere production updates the action to a Spanish-themed dive bar, where Carmen works as a cabaret singer. Designed by ArtsImpulse Theatre Award-winner Julia Noulin-Mérat and Joanna Schmink respectively, the sets and costumes draw inspiration from the films of Pedro Almodóvar, using bold primary colors and a larger-than-life aesthetic to reflect the bar owner’s crudely reductive approach to the cultures he exploits.

Bright colors, costumes, and Flamenco are featured, and the production marks the Atlanta Opera debut of Flamenco dance legend Sonia Olla, “a furnace of earthy sensuality” (New York Times) whose extensive choreography credits include Madonna’s 2015-16 world tour.

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Get the Feeling

Costume sketches by Joanna Schmink

Characters & Cast

Carmen
(Apr 15, 17, 23, & 25)

Megan Marino

View Website

Carmen
(Apr 28, 30, May 2, 6, & 8)

Ashley Dixon

View Website

Micaëla

Jasmine Habersham

View Website

Don Jose

Richard Trey Smagur

View Website

Escamillo
(Apr 15, 17, 23, & 25)

Michael Mayes

View Website

Escamillo
(Apr 28, 30, May 2, 6, & 8)

Theo Hoffman

View Website

Top Things to Know

What to Expect

Your safety is our top priority

This outdoor experience was designed in consultation with leading experts in the fields of epidemiology, public health, workplace/industrial hygiene, and infectious diseases.
The Atlanta Opera will continue to monitor government policy changes, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, government mandates, and public health notices and make changes as necessary or appropriate to ensure the safety of patrons, artists, and staff.

Social Distancing

Tickets are sold as “pods” that can accommodate either two or four people in one party. All pods will be safely distanced from each other under the Big Tent.

Stanchions, signage, and barriers will be used throughout the venue to ensure social distancing is maintained for all audience members.

Shortened Performances

In order to limit exposure, all performances are only 65 minutes in length.

Face Coverings

Regardless of vaccination status, everyone will be required to wear a face covering at all times, both inside and outside the tent for the duration of the performance(s). Click here for mask safety recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Health Screenings

Patrons will be required to take a Health Screening Questionnaire either before arriving or on-site. Temperature checks will also be conducted prior to entry.

Reduced Contact

Ticket scanning, temperature checks, and safety screenings will be contactless and staff will be equipped with masks, face shields, and gloves to keep you safe.

Enhanced Cleaning

Hand washing and sanitizing stations will be dispersed throughout the outdoor venue and personal hand sanitizers will be available at each pod. Seats, tables, bathrooms, and every check-in station will be fully sanitized prior to and following each performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’re here to help

We’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions that will help you navigate through this new experience. If you don’t see an answer to your question, please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to assist you!

Location

The Big Tent at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

All performances will be presented in a large, ventilated, open-sided tent. The tent is located in the parking lot of Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

El Dancairo
(Apr 15 – May 2)

El Dancairo
(May 6 – 8)

El Remendado

Frasquita

Mercedes

Lilas Pastia

Tom Key

Flamenco Dancer

Composer

Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875)

Georges Bizet, original name Alexandre-César-Léopold Bizet (born October 25, 1838, Paris, France—died June 3, 1875, Bougival, near Paris), French composer best remembered for his opera Carmen (1875). His realistic approach influenced the verismo school of opera at the end of the 19th century.

Bizet’s father was a singing teacher and his mother a gifted amateur pianist, and his musical talents declared themselves so early and so unmistakably that he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire before he had completed his 10th year. There, his teachers included the accomplished composers Charles Gounod and Fromental Halévy, and he quickly won a succession of prizes, culminating in the Prix de Rome, awarded for his cantata Clovis et Clotilde in 1857. This prize carried with it a five-year state pension, two years of which musicians were bound to spend at the French Academy in Rome.

Bizet had already shown a gift for composition far superior to that of a merely precocious boy. His first stage work, the one-act operetta Le Docteur miracle, performed in Paris in 1857, is marked simply by high spirits and an easy mastery of the operetta idiom of the day. His Symphony in C Major, however, written in 1855 but subsequently lost and not discovered and performed until 1935, will bear easy comparison with any of the works written at the same age of 17 by either Mozart or Felix Mendelssohn. Flowing and resourceful counterpoint, orchestral expertise, and a happy blend of the Viennese classical style with French melody give the symphony a high place in Bizet’s output.

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Conductor

Jorge Parodi

Internationally acclaimed conductor Jorge Parodi has worked extensively in the Americas and Asia and has led several productions at The Atlanta Opera, Opera Tampa, Savannah Opera, Buenos Aires Lírica (Argentina), the Castleton Festival, The Banff Centre (Canada) and The Juilliard School.  Recent credits include his debut at New York City Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Opera Orlando.  He has led the World Premiéres of Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite for Opera Tampa, and John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt in a coproduction of On-Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric’s Unlimited and Pittsburgh Opera.

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Director

Tomer Zvulun

General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera since 2013, Israeli born Tomer Zvulun is also one of leading stage director of his generation, earning consistent praise for his creative vision and innovative interpretations. His work has been presented by prestigious opera houses in Europe, South and Central America, Israel and the US, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas, San Diego, Boston, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Israeli Opera, and the festivals of Wexford, Glimmerglass and Wolf Trap, as well as leading educational institutes and universities such as The Juilliard School, Indiana University, and Boston University.

Tomer spent seven seasons on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera where he directed revivals of Carmen and Tosca and was involved with more than a dozen new productions. He is a frequent guest director in companies such as Seattle Opera (Semele, La Bohème, Eugene Onegin, Lucia di Lammermoor), Dallas Opera (Die Fledermaus, La Bohème), Houston (Flying Dutchman, Rigoletto), Wexford Festival (Silent Night, Dinner at Eight), Cincinnati Opera (Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Flying Dutchman), Wolf Trap (Falstaff, Don Giovanni), Israeli Opera (Dead Man Walking, Giulio Cesare) among others. His European premiere of Silent Night at the Wexford Festival received two Irish Times Awards and traveled from Ireland to Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival and the opera companies of Atlanta, Austin and Salt Lake City.

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