Carmen Jones (produced 1944)

Carmen Jones (produced 1944) by Oscar Hammerstein II is a version of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (produced 1875), one of the most widely-known and best-loved of all operas. In transforming Carmen by changing its time and place, rewriting the libretto in English, and replacing Bizet's characters with African Americans Hammerstein was attempting to broaden the audience for opera in America. Although Hammerstein managed to create the popular success he wanted, many of his changes undermined the dramatic-musical synthesis on which the success of Bizet's opera rests. The principal flaw in Hammerstein's version is that while Bizet's, and the characters', exoticizing racism was essential to the dramatic and musical structure of Carmen, the later work eliminates this essential tension. Carmen Jones was left with the drama of romantic passion and an attempt to expand the story's moral sphere by incorporating a patriotic element. These changes were not entirely unsuccessful--since Carmen Jones proved quite satisfying to audiences. But it not only reduced the levels of meaning in the story--it also removed meanings that were intrinsically connected with Bizet's music--which Hammerstein had largely retained. In addition, by changing the characters to African Americans Hammerstein left viewers to focus on his own racist assumptions and this distracts from the story. There simply was no sound reason to make the characters African Americans, thus the decision causes the audience t

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disillusionment. In Carmen, therefore, Bizet's music was an intrinsic part of the dramatic structure and his prominent themes were "most memorable as a revelation of character" (Dean 221). Thus, for Hammerstein, retaining the music but changing the characters and the context that generated the musical symbolism was a serious problem--more serious than he, perhaps, understood. Hammerstein, whose grandfather was a somewhat unsuccessful producer of operas, had been fascinated by opera since childhood. Yet he had always found that "listening to people sing words you didn't understand wasn't much fun" (Hammerstein xiv). There had, of course, been numerous attempts to produce translations of operas. But academic, unpoetic translations of opera were not the answer since good adaptations required enormous skills beyond those of translation. Hammerstein, a lyricist for Broadway musicals, believed that "opera in America has to go on the operatic stage through the back door of Broadway" (quoted in Graf 43). Thus, in a slack period, Hammerstein began to write Carmen Jones. The work was not a straight translation of the opera. He changed the locales to a South Carolina parachute factory and a Chicago boxing arena, changed the time

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