Carmen Jones – 1943
Carmen Jones is a 1943 Broadway musical with music by Georges Bizet (orchestrated for Broadway by Robert Russell Bennett) and lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II which was performed at The Broadway Theatre. Conceptually, it is Bizet’s opera Carmen updated to a World War II-era African-American setting. (Bizet’s opera was, in turn, based on the 1846 novella by Prosper Mérimée.) The Broadway musical was produced by Billy Rose, using an all-black cast, and directed by Hassard Short. Robert Shaw prepared the choral portions of the show.
The original Broadway production starred Muriel Smith (alternating with Muriel Rahn) in the title role. The original Broadway cast members were nearly all new to the stage; Kennedy and Muir write that on the first day of rehearsal only one member had ever been on a stage before.
The 1954 film was adapted by Hammerstein and Harry Kleiner. It was directed by Otto Preminger and starred Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte.
The musical has also been revived in London, running for a season in 1991 at London’s Old Vic and most recently in London’s Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in 2007.
Parachute maker Carmen Jones makes a play for a “fly boy” Air Force man, Joe, who is in love with sweet Cindy Lou and about to marry her on a day pass when Carmen gets into a fight with another woman.
Joe’s pass is cancelled in order for him to drive her to the next town to be handed over to the non-military police. Instead, she charms and seduces him, and he is put in the stockade for not delivering her to the authorities.
While she waits for Joe to be released from military prison, she hangs around Billy Pastor’s jive cafe where she encounters boxer Husky Miller, who is instantly besotted with Carmen, calling her “heatwave”.
She is initially uninterested. But her friends Frankie and Mert know that their invitation from Husky’s manager to see him fight in Chicago depends on Carmen’s being there, too.
Then Joe turns up at the cafe but gets into a fight with his sergeant, who is making a move on Carmen. The train ticket to Chicago originally given to Carmen offers them a way of avoiding the MPs. After a few days holed up with no money and no future with Joe, Carmen pays a visit to her two friends, now covered in diamonds and furs, at Husky’s training camp. She is only looking for a loan, but they try to draw her to give up Joe and “go with the money” by staying with Husky.
Later, at Husky’s apartment, Frankie reads Carmen’s “cards”, and reveals the Nine of Spades – the card of Death. In the belief that her days are numbered, Carmen gives in to Husky’s advances, abandoning Joe for the luxurious life Husky can offer her.
Cindy Lou comes to look for Joe, but he is still in love with Carmen and spurns Cindy Lou. The night of Husky’s title fight, Joe turns up to try to convince Carmen to come back to him, but when she rejects him, he kills her, thus making the cards’ prophecy a reality.
on a Drum,’ for instance, hasn’t dimmed over the years, and the song’s been covered by a wide variety of performers, from Pearl Bailey and Marc Almond to Mandy Patinkin.” The majority of the actors performing the songs in the film Carmen Jones were dubbed. Even singer Harry Belafonte was dubbed (by LeVern Hutcherson), and Dorothy Dandridge was dubbed by Marilyn Horne (long before Horne became a well-known opera singer).
Songs
Act 1
Overture
Lift ‘Em Up and Put ‘Em Down (Avec la garde montante in Bizet’s original opera) – Street Boys
Honey Gal o’ Mine – Male Chorus
Good Luck, Mr. Flyin’ Man! – Female Chorus
Dat’s Love (Habanera in Bizet’s opera) – Carmen and Chorus
You Talk Just like My Maw (Parle-moi de ma mère in Bizet’s opera)– Joe and Cindy Lou
Murder-Murder – Female Chorus
Carmen Jones Is Goin’ to Jail! – Pit Chorus
Dere’s a Cafe on de Corner (Seguidilla in Bizet’s opera) – Carmen and Joe
Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum (Gypsy Song in Bizet’s opera) – Frankie, Chorus
Stan’ Up and Fight (Toreador Song, also known as March of the Toreadors in Bizet’s opera) – Husky Miller and Chorus
Whizzin’ Away Along de Track (Quintet (Nous avons en tête affaire) in Bizet’s opera) – Rum, Dink, Myrt, Frankie, and Carmen
Dis Flower (Flower Song in Bizet’s opera) – Joe
If You Would Only Come Away – Carmen and Joe
Act 2
De Cards Don’t Lie (Card Song in Bizet’s opera) – Frankie, Myrt, Carmen, and female chorus
Dat Ol’ Boy – Carmen
Poncho de Panther from Brazil – Frankie, Myrt, Husky Miller, Rum, and Chorus
My Joe (Micaela’s Air in Bizet’s opera) – Cindy Lou
Finale (of Act II Scene I) – Carmen, Joe, Cindy Lou, Husky Miller, Rum, Dink, Frankie, and Myrt
Git Yer Program for de Big Fight – Chorus
Dat’s Our Man! (Les voici in Bizet’s opera) – Chorus
Finale – Carmen, Joe, Chorus