My Three Carmens: Sexuality and Everyone's Favorite Cigarette

My Three Carmens: Sexuality and Everyone’s Favorite Cigarette Factory Girl

A Final Paper for Music 341 Krystal Klingenberg Fall 2005

I pledge my honor that I have not violated the honor code in the creation of this paper. Signed, Krystal Kabakama Klingenberg

“You think you hold it, it “If I chose you, then you get “I’m telling you it’s like escapes you. You try to caught. But once I got you, I gold; hard to let go, harder escape it, it holds you fast.” go away.” to hold.” From the Habanera, Bizet’s From “Dat’s Love”, From “The Last Great Carmen Carmen Jones Seduction”, Carmen: A Hip Hopera

The character Carmen from Bizet’s opera of the same name is a fascinating one.1

The first thing I hit upon in her character was her mystery. You cannot really pin her down as to who she is and what the motivations of her actions are. One can validly argue that she is weak or strong, loud or silent (or both for that matter). She defies categorization, and beguiles both the audience member and scholar alike. The bold mystery of her character has no doubt contributed to Carmen being one of, if not the, most popular operas of all time. My first inclination toward a topic for this paper had been examining the character of Carmen through various operatic renderings of the works. Though this would have been an interesting journey through the depths of operatic characterization, opera is not my primary music theater genre, Musical Theater is. Before working on this project, I had heard of Carmen Jones, but had never watched the film.

The only things I knew about the film were that one- it is an all black musical and two- it was Dorothy Dandridge’s most major starring role (she plays the title character). The

1954 movie turned out to be a very faithful rendering of the Bizet opera. After Carmen

Jones, there was one other Carmen I was interested in encountering, a contemporary one.

“Carmen: A Hip Hopera” is a Music Television production starring pop star Beyonce

Knowles as the title character. The buzz when it originally aired (2001) was negative.

1 I refer to the operatic Carmen as “Bizet’s Carmen” so as to distinguish her from Merimee’s Carmen, the story about whom is slightly different. Though I assign her thusly, I do not wish to minimize the work of librettists Meilhac and Halevy who’s lyrics make up a good portion of this paper’s discussion. 2

Though the critics may not have liked the rendition, when brought into line with Bizet’s

Carmen and Carmen Jones, one gets an interesting comparison. Though the contexts of the three pieces are different, the story of Carmen from Bizet’s piece remains in the cinematic. She is still alluring, mysterious and sexual.

My goal in this paper is to make some exploration of Carmen’s character. The entry point I have chosen to achieve these ends is sexuality. How is Carmen sexual? How does she express that sexuality? What kind of person is Carmen based on this assessment? Who are the respective Carmens of Carmen Jones and Carmen: A Hip

Hopera (henceforth referred to as C: AHH) and how do they compare to Bizet’s Carmen and to each other? In order to address these questions, I will examine a piece from each production in depth, but before I do so, the narrative context for each piece will be given.

Before I dig into the productions and their librettos, I would like to make a note here about exoticisation. Exoticism is another entry point to discussion about Carmen.

Bizet’s Carmen is exoticised as a gypsy. She is not just mysterious and alluring because she is female; her gypsy identity also plays a role. That identity is made clear in her characterization, and clearer when lined up against Don Jose’s non-gypsy identity. We do not really know what gypsy-ness is, but it is different and ethnic, hence, exotic.2 She dances a gypsy dance for her lover Don Jose, who ends up subscribing to a “gypsy kind of life.” Just as exoticism is an entry point for character discussion, it is also a point of comparison across the piece. This element of exoticism comes through in the two later works I have chosen to examine. I chose not to use exoticism as a vehicle for

2 Apparently Bizet did not really know what “gypsy-ness” was either. He made sure to keep himself away from gypsy music so as not to be influenced in the creation of the opera. The music itself is not actually gypsy for that matter. (McClary 63-64) 3

comparative discussion because it is simply too big a discussion for a paper of this size; a greater exploration of the socio-historical context of all three works would be in order. I do make some mention of it here as it is a frequently remarked about facet of the play and a clear connecting factor between the works, though there is a difference in how this exoticism plays itself out. Where the exoticisation of Bizet’s Carmen is primarily within the opera itself, the exoticisation of Carmen Jones and Carmen Brown comes out of the audience’s gaze. Both Carmen Jones and C: AHH feature all black casts (this is more stark in Carmen Jones where there is not a single non-black person in the production, not even an extra). These Carmens are settled into their own contexts. Their Jose’s are also black and the lines of difference are less apparent as in the opera.3 It would seem then that an exoticisation does not occur, but it in fact does. Rather than Jose exoticising her, we, the audience exoticise her. She is black, powerful and sexual. We the audience are mostly white and middle class. Carmen Jones, though a “musical” (my consideration on that matter to follow), is a setting of the opera that aims at projecting a certain image of black people (an unrealistic one, for example that black people live such segregated lives). This comes though in the language of the piece, which features a lot of unnecessary “black” accentuation, especially when considering that the voices were dubbed and that some of the “black” voices you hear were dubbed by white singers. The

Habanera in Carmen Jones is “Dat’s Love” as opposed to That’s Love. The singing sounds very odd and out of place, which points me to the notion that this work, to some degree, is a piece not only about capricious love, but about the substance of blackness.

3 In his piece “Black Faces, White Voices: The Politics of Dubbing in Carmen Jones”, Jeff Smith points to skin color hierarchy playing itself out in the piece, Joe in his goodness striving for whiteness. I thought this was a bit of a stretch at least, and mildly racist at most. For the sake of my diversion here, it will suffice that both couples do not experience the stark cultural and social strata differences as those between Carmen and Don Jose. 4

C:AHH presents the story within the musical idiom of hip hop which is an essentially black art form. Carmen Jones and C:AHH are both presented as black shows for our amusement. This is where the audience becomes the exoticising factor. In order to really appreciate either one of these pieces, one has to have some knowledge of the original opera. It is the white elite that looks at Carmen Jones, then standing to exoticise her.4 The case is somewhat different for C:AHH as it was an MTV production, aimed at a teenage demographic, having little knowledge of the opera could not really appreciate it at all. It would then seem that this exoticisation is a part of the characterization of Carmen; the difference lies in who is meant to see her in such a light. With my diversion here complete, I turn now to looking at the three Carmens in terms of their sexuality. Though I am examining that one facet of her character, I hope that by giving brief speech to another, I have pointed to the depth of her character, despite my single focus.

Who is Bizet’s Carmen? Before we examine some lyrics in search of the answer to that question, let us review her story. Operatic Carmen Abridged: setting, Spain.5 The opera opens with men (who they are depends on the production) hanging around watching the time go by. Michaela comes into town looking for Don Jose. She is the home town girlfriend of Jose, our main character. He is a corporal in the army and in love with Michaela. Not finding Jose, Michaela leaves. The women of the cigarette factory come into the scene, blowing their rapturous feminine smoke over the watching men (of

4 Though it cannot be said that black audiences would have been unfamiliar with Bizet’s Carmen, chances are that people in rural South Carolina (the setting of the piece) would not have been exposed to it. 5 The three synopses I give in this paper were written by me and gleaned from the works themselves. That being said, there will probably be some discernable bias in the way I describe the characters, regardless of how evenhanded I tried to be. These synopses could be considered the first layer of my analysis. 5

course, in song form). Though the men are enraptured by the women, they soon turn to a greater concern, asking for the whereabouts of their favorite factory girl, Carmen. She comes out and addresses the crowd with arguably the most famous song from the opera,

The Habanera. She sings about the nature of love, and here fuels some of the initial mystery of her character, singing of the danger of loving her. She throws a flower to Jose, who still in love with Michaela, is not interested. Carmen gets into a fight with another woman at the factory and is to be arrested and taken to jail. Don Jose is called up to arrest her, but in the end she arrests him. Bound, Carmen sings a song to Jose that serves to either seduce Jose or simply manipulate him (depending on how you determine her intentions). By the end of the Seguidilla, Jose is in love with Carmen, and Carmen now has the power in their relationship. Carmen plots to get escape with Jose’s help, which she receives. For his participation in her escape, Jose goes to military jail.

The opening of act II finds Carmen at her friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern at the edge of town. She sings us another gypsy dance song. The toreador, Escamillo, enters the tavern and sings to the crowd about his glorious bullfighting. Carmen catches his eye, but she seems to be unavailable, waiting for Jose’s release. The tavern clears out except for

Carmen and some of her gypsy friends who try to convince her to join them in a smuggling operation, because women are useful to have around in such situations. She declines their invitation, as she is waiting for Jose. Jose returns to Carmen at Pastia’s

Tavern. Carmen continues the seduction she started before his jail time (in the Seguidilla) by doing a private dance just for him (after telling Jose that she danced with other soldiers at the bar). All is blissful and lusty. When the retreat is sounded, Jose says he must leave her and go back to the military, which leaves Carmen in a not so happy state.

Jose sings to her how much she means to him in his song about the flower she threw to him, which he kept. She claims that if he really loved her he would stay. (Again, what she means here is open to interpretation, is she genuinely sad that her man is leaving, or is all of this part of some manipulation on her part?) Carmen offers him the freedom of gypsy life and he declines. She then writes him off, and tells him to leave. Jose’s senior officer comes back into the tavern. He and Jose get into an altercation and it becomes clear that he will not be going back to the army. Jose then jumps into bed with the gypsies, so to speak.

Act III finds Joe with the gypsies in the mountains. Carmen seems stifled by his presence, telling him that she wants her own freedom. Carmen has clearly stopped loving

Jose, though her shift was not particularly marked by an event. Jose thinks about his mother and how she mistakenly believes she has a good son. Carmen suggests that if the gypsy life does not work for him he should leave. Jose threatens her as a result. Carmen counters by saying that fate is the master (fate being a major musical and narrative theme in the piece). Carmen and two friends tell their fortunes. Carmen gets the death card. She sees her fate as sealed (but her deadly fate could have been predicted from the music itself). Michaela ventures into the mountains to find Jose and tell him that his mother is dying. She sings a beautiful song in which she implores God to give her strength. She enters the camp and hides. Don Jose, acting as sentry, shoots out at a figure in the darkness, that turns out to be Escamillo looking for Carmen. He tells Jose of his love and

Jose challenges him to a fight. Carmen steps in to stop it. Escamillo invites everyone to the big bullfight in town. Michaela is found. She tells Jose her message, imploring him to come with her. When he finds out that his mother is dying, he is willing to break his

tether to Carmen to go see his mother, but not without telling Carmen that he would be seeing her again (ominous even if one does not know what happens at the end of the opera). In the second half of the third act we have our big final conclusion to the story.

Everyone is in town for the big bullfight. Carmen enters the scene on Escamillo’s arm.

The two end up singing a song about their love for each other. Carmen is warned by the other gypsy women that Jose is around, and that she should beware. When Jose does catch up to her, they are alone outside the bullfight, which issues its own music as part of the rising climax of the final scene. Carmen tells Jose for the last time that things are over between them, though Jose will not take the news. He offers to save her from the fate he might otherwise dispense, but Carmen says fate will be fate and in the end pins Jose into a desperate corner where he must either sever his ties with her, and let her go unmolested into the fight, or kill her because the tie of death is the only tie with her he has a chance of maintaining. Carmen has already proved herself the fatalist, and so she makes no effort to appease Jose. (This here is my own assessment, but I think it’s a reasonable one.) She will either die or be free. Jose, pushed to the brink, stabs Carmen. Curtain down, end of show.

So what do we have here? A tale of possession, love, lust, fate and violence, both emotional and physical. You can read the opera any number of ways. The one thing about the piece that always perplexes me is whether or not anyone is really in love in the piece at all. It could be argued that Jose is in love with Carmen, but is it really love or a captivating possession? It could be argued that Carmen loved Jose, but weighed her options, and went with the happiest situation she could find, casualties (Jose) be damned.

Or perhaps, she was never in love with Escamillo or Jose, and perhaps was just enamored

of her own powers of manipulation. Who is Carmen? Is she a cunning sexual manipulator or a woman offering her love? Let us now turn to the words from her own mouth.

Carmen sings the Seguidilla6 at the point in the opera where her relationship with

Jose is new. She has been arrested following her fight and is being held by Don Jose.

This is Carmen’s first crack at him alone. She sings to seduce him, but it is not clear whether or not that seduction is aimed at buying her freedom, experiencing her attraction to Jose, or because she is simply a physical sexual person who looses such sentiments all the time. I chose the Seguidilla for discussion for several reasons, the first of which is that the strength and power of Carmen’s character is extremely salient in the song. With her performance she moves her relationship with Jose from a possible attraction to a state of devotion. The second reason is that as one of the more sexual songs in the piece, it gives us an insight into her character as a sexual being. I could have examined the Habanera, but that song is more about love and foreshadowing, than sexuality in the moment. The third and most important reason is that the Seguidilla survives in Carmen Jones and in kind in C:AHH, making it an excellent tie across the pieces.

The first projections we get in the song of Carmen’s sexuality comes with the lyrics “True pleasure is when you’re a pair” or “real pleasures are shared by two”, depending on the translation you subscribe to. With these words, she establishes herself as available. Though she is very forward, Carmen maintains some show of coyness by situating herself behind her lyrics, rather than in front of them. Rather than saying from the beginning “I want you”, she seems to tactfully appeal to the rationality of love. As the

6 Full lyrics to all the songs I reference maybe found in an appendix at the end of the paper. The bold highlights are those lyrics I reference in the body of my text. The appendix features two translations of Bizet’s Seguidilla. I will subscribe mainly to the translation found in the liner notes of the Deutsche Grammophon recording of 1978. This translation seems more even-handed in presenting Carmen’s character. The translation from the internet serves to show how Carmen might otherwise be presented. 9

song progresses, her forward nature shines through. “My lover! He’s disappeared; I showed him the door yesterday…” Not only does Carmen speak boldly here of her lovers, but she expresses her sexual agency to Jose explicitly. Carmen continues “My poor heart, which is easily consoled, my heart is as free as air.” She claims to be sad, though it is she who ended the relationship. (She could be referencing any and all of her previous relationships, or none for that matter. The referred relationship acting here is a tool for her seduction.) She offers herself freely and without remorse. Carmen acts this way with full knowledge and purpose. Despite the strength she has displayed thus far, clues are given to some vulnerability on her part: “who wants to love me? I’ll love him. Who wants my heart? It’s there for the taking.” She is offering her body and her love, but not for some courtly kind of love. Carmen is seeking an affair, where her heart will be stolen away. She could have offered her unending love, but instead offers something that she can reasonably give, a fling. Despite the tactfulness Carmen has shown up until this point, there is an element of truth-telling in her words. When Jose tells her to be quiet, she says that she is in fact not speaking to him at all, that she is singing to herself. This shows some calculation on her part. Though she is singing to herself, she is engaging her power of her sung voice to woo this man. Her engagement of this power recurs through the whole of the opera. Her knowledge of her own performance power is seen again at the end of the song. She has Don Jose in her pocket, and when he asks her to promise to love him as he loves her, she does not respond in kind. She repeats her opening refrain about going to the tavern and gives him a “tra la la la” for his trouble.

So what do we get out of the Seguidilla about Carmen? What jumps out to me most vividly is her strength in performance. She is not just saying her sexuality, she is

performing it. This comes out more when the lyrics are considered with respect to their performance. Different productions handle Carmen’s sexuality differently, but between the primary filmed production I watched (a 1978 production in Vienna) and that which is currently running at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, the song in its performance is indeed a dance (as its title, a Spanish dance, indicates). She begins coyly, “I’m alone and lonely,” but by the end of the song has no need for such shyness in her mating dance.

Her mission accomplished, she then sings for the sake of singing. Her tra la la la could have been a ha ha ha ha. Carmen exhibits a keen knowledge of the mating game; she knows what she has to do to get her man in the end. For most of the song, she is basically singing to Don Jose (despite her protestations otherwise), but there comes a point toward the end of the song where she actually sings to herself about Don Jose: “My officer isn’t a captain, not even a lieutenant: he’s only a corporal.” Carmen has shifted herself from the purveyor of sexuality to the consumer. Her consumption plays a large role in the greater piece. As freely as she gives herself here, she takes from Jose, who ends up with nothing.

The sexuality offered up here is one performed and created in tension. This song reaffirms that public nature of Carmen’s sexuality (which she first establishes in the

Habanera). We know she is a sexual being because she makes it publicly known by her own performance, both on stage and in flirtatious life. The seguidilla also helps position

Carmen in relation to the other main female character in the opera, Michaela. I have not given much space here to Michaela’s character besides to say that her virtue is without question. The ultra goodness she displays only serves to make Carmen badder. Bizet sets up Michaela for our unquestioned adoration. She is bold in her goodness. Her voice

serves as a mouthpiece for Jose’s mother, and by this token, the sanctity of her character is distinct. When Michaela leaves the scene at the beginning of the opera, after looking unsuccessfully for Jose, she goes not just because Jose is not there. She leaves because hanging around with a bunch of men is outside her virtuous character. Carmen, of course would have stayed, and does when she comes out and sings the Habanera. Michaela’s sanctity is held in an interesting tension with Carmen’s wantonness. Carmen is not just outrageous by her own accord; she is outrageous because we find her placed on the opposite end of a spectrum of virtue to balance with Michaela. This outrageousness, as I call it, comes to the fore in the seguidilla.

With something of Bizet’s Carmen established, we now turn to our second piece up for consideration, Carmen Jones. In studying Carmen Jones, I had hoped to delve into

Musical Theater to see how the parameters of the form effect change in her character, but in was disappointed to that effect after viewing the movie. Carmen Jones sees famous musical lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II’s lyrics set over Bizet’s original music. Director

Otto Preminger took Carmen Jones the Broadway musical and put it on film in 1954.

What results is something that I would not particularly call a musical, though it is popularly considered as such. Part of what makes a musical a musical is the accessibility of the lyrics. The words are sung much closer to speech than opera libretto. Opera is a higher style and the music is more complex. When Broadway words are laid over opera music, it is almost incomprehensible. The movie’s stars, both accomplished singers, were both dubbed by more “opera-like” voices,7 giving the music a particular texture, that I

7 As I said in a previous footnote, this dubbing is discussed well in Jeff Smith’s piece. He points to the politics of race in the matter. By dubbing Dandridge and Belafonte, Smith claims there being some interesting racial layering of voices. Marilyn Horne sings for Dorothy Dandridge, the resulting voice being to some extent a white opera singer vocal conceptualization of blackness. 12

feel makes the piece even less accessible to your average musical watching crowd.

Further, the story of Carmen Jones, as we shall see, follows the opera very closely, almost too closely. It was hard for me to consider Carmen Jones separately because of its distance from the opera.

What is the story of Carmen Jones? Where we once were in Spain of the 1800’s, we are now in South Carolina during World War II. What was once a cigarette factory in a town, is now a parachute factory on a military base. Cindy Lou (Michaela) comes to the base looking for her man Joe (Don Jose), a corporal on the base, bound for flying school.

We first see Carmen Jones when she sings “Dat’s Love,” the Habanera. Carmen ends the song hitting on Joe, in front of Cindy Lou. Joe is unfazed, going on to sing a duet with

Cindy Lou, in which Joe says that she is like his ma, and he must love her because he is like his pa. They decide to get married immediately, that very day in fact. After getting in a fight with another woman in the factory, Carmen is arrested and to be taken to jail. Joe is called upon to take Carmen from the base to the civilian jail in Masonville. He asks his commanding officer for a pass to tell his waiting Cindy Lou that he has to leave for a bit, but his request is denied, and he it told to leave the base forthwith. In the jeep on the way to Masonville, Carmen sings to Joe that “Dere’s a Café on de Corner” that she would like to go to with him (the Seguidilla). Joe is not sold. When the jeep has to stop for a passing train, Carmen escapes from the jeep and runs onto it. Eventually Joe captures her; literally wrestling her to the ground and binding her. Joe hoists her over his shoulder and puts her back in the jeep. He gets the vehicle stuck trying to cross a stream and Carmen tells him that they can catch a train in her hometown that will take them to Masonville, to the jail. Joe agrees to this suggestion. (Though at this point he has not physically

responded to her seduction, once he decides to go with her to her hometown, she has him.) Once they reach her house, they meet Carmen’s grandmother, a mystical old lady who first alert’s Carmen of her dark fate. Joe and Carmen get comfortable, and she shows her domestic side, doting on the soldier. They consummate their relationship. Joe wakes up the next morning to find a note from Carmen that she has gone (thought it is not clear whether or not he still intended to take her off to jail). Joe has let Carmen escape and ends up in military jail (Cindy Lou visits him faithfully, despite the circumstances that got him in there in the first place. She knows of his fraternizing with Carmen, but being entirely virtuous, she looks past it.)

At Billy Pastor’s tavern (Lillas Pastia’s), in place of Carmen’s singing a rousing song about gypsy dancing, we have Frankie a tangential friend of Carmen’s (played by

Pearl Bailey), singing “Beat out dat rhythm on da drum” (from the exotic to the exotic).

The tavern is a buzz with the arrival of Husky Miller (Escamillo) a prize fighter, who sings of his fight. His eyes alight on Carmen and he falls for her, though she wants nothing of him. She is waiting for her man Joe, whom she claims she loves. This is where we get a bit of a diversion from the opera’s story. Frankie and her friend Myrt (played by

Diahann Carroll) hang out with Husky’s manager hoping to be wined and dined (they are unabashed gold diggers). The manager says that Husky has gotten tight with his money, and that they will need the girl he has fallen for to loosen up those coffers. The manager, his flunky and the two women try to convince Carmen to come with them to Chicago, where Husky will be training for a big fight. (They need her not just because she is female, as in the opera’s story. They need her for a specific manipulation.) She reasserts that she is waiting for her man. The manager gives her a train ticket just in case.

Joe shows up at Billy Pastor’s. Carmen Jones is overjoyed, but soon changes her tune, like Bizet’s Carmen. Joe tells her that he was lucky that he still has a chance at flying school, despite his time spent in the brig, and that he must leave immediately.

Carmen asserts that if he loved her he would stay. She says that she saved up her money for them to go on a trip to Chicago when he got out of the brig. (Here we have a big difference from the opera. It is not a question of whether or not there is some sort of manipulation in this moment. There is, but Carmen Jones goes further to lie to her Joe.)

When Joe’s commanding officer comes out and impugns her character, he and Joe gets into a fight. Joe knocks the officer out, and doing so realizes that flight school is out of the question, and that he might as well go off to Chicago with Carmen.

They go off to Chicago (Joe not knowing of Husky’s contribution). They set up house in Chicago, but with the military police searching for Joe, he cannot venture out of the apartment. Where Don Jose was held captive by his possessive love for Carmen and the “free” life of the gypsy she offered, Joe is held captive by a dependent love for

Carmen and his own situation as fugitive (Carmen is his only link to the outside world.

He has literally forsaken all else for her.) Joe cannot get a job and their apartment is lacking (it is not clear why Carmen does not get a job). Carmen leaves the apartment to pawn some jewelry to get money for groceries and bumps into Frankie, bedecked in fine clothing. Frankie takes Carmen to Husky, who is delighted to see her. Carmen remains distant, preserving her love for Joe. It is only after reading her tarot fortune, seeing death as her fate, Carmen leaps into Husky’s arms, trying to seize the days she has left. She returns to the apartment changed. Carmen no longer loves Joe, whom she feels stifled by.

She makes it clear to him that she does not really want him anymore, and that she will do

whatever she wants. Carmen walks out of the apartment and Joe’s life, despite his threats.

She goes to Husky’s side, where Joe later finds her when he seeks her out for reconciliation. He cannot compete with the prize fighter. Cindy Lou re-enters the picture.

She has seen Carmen by Husky’s side in the newspapers, and seeks her out looking for

Joe. She finds Carmen and Joe in Husky’s locker room, and tells Joe of his mother’s illness. The military police catches wind to Joe’s presence and comes for him. He manages to escape, but he has yet to escape his love for Carmen. Now the end of our piece: the big prize fight. Carmen sits ringside cheering her man on. As she processes out of the fight with her victorious boyfriend, Joe pulls her aside. Taking her into a janitor’s closet, he tries one last time to reason with her. She reasserts her independence (as

Bizet’s Carmen did). Carmen pushes Joe to the edge, throwing his ring away (just as she does in the operatic version). Joe, in a possessed rage, kills Carmen, but instead of stabbing her as Jose did, he strangles her.

So what of the sexuality of Carmen Jones? Let us see what she says in “Deres a café on de Corner.” The song comes at the exact same point in the story as the Seguidilla as it both in lyric (a “black” American translation) and music is the Seguidilla. Carmen has finally gotten a chance to be with Joe alone, and follow up on the advance she makes earlier with her flower (a come on that is more explicit in Carmen Jones than the opera).

Though I believe that this song will give us some insight into her character, it also serves as an example of what happens in crossing the line from opera into Musical Theater. As I said above, I would not particularly categorize Carmen Jones Musical Theater. It lies in some intermediate space. It is not the high art of opera, but it is also not accessible enough to be Musical Theater. This song is marked as intermediate to that effect by the

lyrics. There is a clear effort made by Hammerstein for the lyrics to fit the contours of the music in the same way that the operatic lyrics do (for example, Lillas Pastia is changed to

Billy Pastor).

Carmen Jones point to this café of Billy Pastor’s as a place “where a man takes a lady when he wants to move faster.” Where the café was once a tavern made sexual because Carmen wanted to go there (a neutral space of sorts), it here is a sexualized space. She seems even more forward than the operatic Carmen. After describing the café as such, Carmen suggests that she go “an’ say hello to Pastor”. She is going to this café with or without Joe; her libido does not seem dependent on an object. “How kin a lady drink alone? How can a lady dance alone?” Carmen is referring to her self as a lady, not a woman, not a girl, not a dame or any other 50’s colloquial term for female. Using the word “lady” allows her some reserve and retains some self respect (she may be throwing herself at Joe, but she in the end she is still a “lady”.) Referring to the man she broke up with she says “I threw his toothbrush out the door.” That same sexual agency is exhibited here as in the operatic version. She has the power to dispense men at will (a hint that Joe should have taken to heart). But more than this, she was not only loving this man, she was living with this man. She did not throw him out; she threw out his toothbrush. This is an explicit statement of the fact that their relationship was sexual, not necessarily the romantic, and Carmen is proud of this. “Where will I wind up? Who’ll I be true to? Ain’ made my mind up, waitin’ for you to.” Where earlier in the song, Carmen made her sexual agency clear, she now pulls the coy card. She submits herself to him, giving over some of her agency in exchange for his devotion. The song ends on this same submissive note, “Now you got your little filly at the starting gate, Got a little filly that is rarin’ to

go!” Carmen positions herself at the beginning of the song as sexually available, but changes her tune, repositioning herself as the docile sweetheart. “Filly” points to a young excited naïveté, contrasting to “Lady”, who is wiser. Where the operatic Carmen starts her song as coy, and gradually becomes more open with her sexuality, Carmen Jones starts more forward, gradually reining in that explicit sexuality. It is almost as if Carmen

Jones wishes to leave a sweet rather than savory taste in Joe’s mouth.

Another point of difference is the performance realities of the operatic Carmen and the “musical theater” Carmen. Where there are points in Bizet’s Carmen when she is literally put up on stage to perform for the audience and other characters alike, Carmen

Jones’s stage is her close-up, and therefore less of an effort is made to point out her performance identity in the libretto itself (what I would call her main performance song is taken out of her hands entirely and given to Pearl Bailey to perform). Her character is changed by this difference. Where our “original” Carmen performs her sexuality, Carmen

Jones seems to live it.

Carmen Brown of C:AHH is far less subtle than the two Carmens we have see so far. Her sexuality, while calculated, is painted in much broader strokes. C: AHH is book- ended by speeches given by rapper Da Brat that serve as Shakespearian prologue and epilogue. These bookends set the tone for the piece, making it clear to the audience that what they are/were watching is a classic tale. Carmen Jones was taken almost wholesale from the opera: both story and music. Bizet’s original music makes brief appearances in the score of C:AHH, but most of its music is new.8 C:AHH twists our original story a bit,

8 I cannot even imagine trying to incorporate both the operatic music and rhyming patter of hip hop. Bizet’s music could have played a bigger role in the score, through looped samples and techniques of that nature, but clearly the choice was made to not include it. Where having this music in Carmen Jones 18

taking some of the negative focus away from Carmen’s character. Setting: Philadelphia,

PA. The body of the piece begins with drugs being planted on a young boy by Miller, a lieutenant cop. A subordinate cop, Derek Hill (our Jose), catches miller doing this, and ill feelings between the two are established. Hill’s fiancé Kayla is the daughter of the owner of the bar where the local cops hang out. Our first exposure to Carmen Brown is when she steps into this bar, scandalously dressed in red, attracting the attention of the whole room. Miller and his deputy try to hit on her, but she refuses there advances, hitting on

Hill in front of Kayla. Carmen ends up in a fight with another woman at the club, and

Miller tells Hill (in a show of his higher office) to arrest her. Miller arrests her, and like any good Carmen, she begins to seduce him (the Seguidilla broken in to two parts and discussed below). Hill agrees to take Carmen back to her house to change before taking her to jail, and Carmen, rather than putting on more comfortable clothes, jumps into a negligee and completes the seduction. When Hill wakes up in her apartment the following morning, she is nowhere to be found and he is surrounded by cops, led by

Miller. Miller, in another show of his bad character, has brought Kayla along to catch

Hill. She gets angry, unlike Michaela or Cindy Lou, tells him its over, and slaps him across the face. Hill is sent to jail.

Later, Carmen is with her friends at a club waiting to meet a famous rapper who has come into town, Blaze (Escamillo). Miller, also at the club, tries to hit on Carmen again, but she rebuffs him, angry at him for having her arrested, and claiming to still love

Hill (she has been corresponding with him during his incarceration). Blaze, captivated by

Carmen, tries to chat her up, but she is not interested in being hit on. His interest in her

made the movie more familiar, using Bizet here would not have the same effect, as most if not all of the viewers would hold some knowledge of the opera. 19

seems genuine, so she opens up a bit and tells him of her dreams to become an actress

(the narrative avenue for the performative nature of the Carmen character). He invites her to come to Los Angeles with him, saying that he will help her, but she declines. Carmen’s girlfriends decide to go with his entourage to Los Angeles, and try to convince her to come too. Carmen agrees to meet them out there in two weeks.

Carmen is awoken that night by Hill, who has been released. The next morning, she makes him breakfast and broaches moving to California. Hill tells her he cannot leave the state because of his probation. Carmen gets upset and tells him that if he really loved her, he would go. Later at the bar, Miller calls Carmen a “silly ho” and Hill goes off, getting into a fight with him. Hill and Carmen flee to California and encounter the same problems Carmen Jones and Joe do. Hill cannot find employment and spends his days in their motel room. Carmen Brown, as it turns out, is a terrible actress and no one will cast her. Background checks on Hill for jobs alert Philadelphia police to his presence in LA.

Miller is looking hard for Hill because there has been a corruption shake up and Hill can testify to Miller being a dirty cop.

Eventually, as Carmens do, Carmen Brown begins to feel stifled in her relationship with Hill, and reasserts her independence and dominance in their relationship. Leaving for some air, she meets with her girlfriends and they get their cards read. Carmen gets the death card and decides to start living for the day (dating Blaze).

Kayla manages to warn Hill that Miller is looking for him, but the lieutenant catches up to Hill at the big Blaze concert. Hill has come trying to get Carmen back so they can at the very least run away from Miller together. Hill tells Carmen about the corruption and that Miller might threaten her get to him. (The possessive element in the Jose character is

not as present in this rendition. Without it, the story ends differently.) Miller, in the rafters, watching the couple fight in the wings, aims his gun at Hill. He shoots and misses, killing Carmen. Hill goes after him, and ends up pushing him off the rafters.

Miller falls to the stage and dies. A TV report after the action shows Hill getting arrested and blamed for both murders.

Moving from musical theater into hip hop, new issues arise. It is as if we have moved from pole to pole on a spectrum. Where opera is maybe entirely sung9, rap is almost entirely spoken. Emphasis shift from the music in opera to the lyric in rap, with interesting effects. There is a bit of singing in C:AHH, but most of the songs are rapped over music. Curiously, rather than getting a rapper to play Carmen, they casted talented singer (who is as beautiful as we would expect any Carmen to be). 10 The lyrics of the songs in C:AHH are not crafted tightly (for the most efficient narrative movement), and at times downright laughable.11 There is come indication given on the behind the scenes featurette on the DVD that some of the lyrics were improvised. I do not say this to diminish the potency of the lyrics; I only wish to push our ears toward their meaning, rather than appearance.

The Seguidilla of C:AHH is spread over two songs: “The Last Great Seduction” and “Carmen Seduces Hill”. Carmen is being arrested after fighting in the bar with another woman over this other woman’s man ogling Carmen. This Seguidilla features

9 Excepting of course those productions with spoken recitatives. 10 Perhaps this was because rapping is typically a male performance art. The female rappers out there who have made any name for themselves seemed to have appropriated a masculine sexuality either to do it, or as part of doing it (this is simply my own observation). If the directors were trying to appeal to a feminine sexuality, then it is not surprising that a singer rather than rapper was cast. 11 From “If Looks Could Kill” (C:AHH’s version of the Habanera): “Sweetness, flowing like a faucet/Body bangin’, no corset/Brothers wanna toss it/But they lost it/Cause my game made them forfeit/Slicker than a porpoise and thicker than a horse’s.” 21

participation by the Jose character, more input than we have seen in the Bizet’s Carmen and Carmen Jones. Speaking before “The Last Great Seduction” begins, Hill tells

Carmen that “You look like the type of woman I would meet at the club”, remarking on her forward sexuality. Carmen in turn remarks that she lives it up at the club and is the object of all male attention: “You should see the eyes on me, dress fittin’ like a prize on me. High split, fellas get the rise on me.” This attention she gets is not just because of her beauty; she elicits it with her revealing clothing. Carmen Brown like the others is engaging in a manipulation, but she is more open about it. Further, she is not alone in this manipulation. Referring to other “club” women, she says: “I know how thirsty these chicks can be, schemin’ and plottin’ on you like me.” In a telling lyric Carmen says

“What you want in a wife is in me. I’m telling you it’s like gold; hard to let go, harder to hold.” This sounds like the same move that Carmen Jones makes at the end of her seguidilla, but it is slightly different. This Carmen is not offering herself up as a sweetheart “filly.” Rather, she is offering the comforts of a wife without Hill having to get too engaged, and without Carmen having to relinquish her sexual freedom. Her love is not as stable as that of a wife. We do not know whether or not Carmen is referring her to romantic or sexual love, but neither is promised in her world. Rather than appealing to the “rationality of love” as I called it earlier, she appeals to the idea of the forbidden fruit:

“You never got to taste it. If you had one drop, you wouldn’t go back.” Carmen rather than offering her availability, is offering her mystery (or the mysterious powers of her sexuality).

The second half of the seduction, “Carmen Seduces Hill,” is where the heavy- handedness of Carmen Brown’s sexuality comes to the fore. She gives Hill a little bit of

the romantic femininity of the good girl, “I don’t see me living another day without your tender kisses”, but then returns to her forward bad girl sexuality with words like “you can bring the cuffs, if you would like to, if that’s your style.” There is no illusion that this will last forever (despite the sacrifices Hill goes on to make). Carmen’s offers only her sexuality; no other character trait comes into play. “But you don’t understand the way I feel, the pain I could heal” Carmen says as she dances half naked in front of him. For what Carmen Brown gives in sexuality, she receives in power. As Hill tries to pull away from her she reasserts that power: “I got a couple of days to kill, either you down or you peel”, meaning these are your choices, to participate in my game or leave it. Hill, as we know, accepts the terms of her game. The sexual manipulation of Carmen Brown is not an exercise in the delicate balance of good girl and bad girl, like our other Carmen’s.

Instead she positions her sexuality under glass, close enough for us to touch, but guarded so that we may never own it.

Having looked at a subsection of the lineage of Carmens, what can we say of her sexuality? The hallmark of the Carmen character, her sexual allure, is maintained in the subsequent productions I examined. Perhaps, without that allure, she would not be

Carmen at all. All three of the stories turn on Carmen’s sexual power and her ability to wield it effectively. Carmen is smart and sexy, but is that all she is? Or perhaps the question is whether the sexuality that I have been discussing is the only requisite and salient trait in her character. This would explain her mystery. The rest of Carmen’s

character remains vague because we do not need to understand it in order to appreciate her role as catalyst in the story’s plot.

Bibliography

Bizet, Georges. Carmen. With Placido Domingo. Cond. Claudio Abbado. 1978, Deutsche Grammaphon GmbH. Compact Disc. Universal Classics Group, 2005.

Carmen. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. 1978. Wiener Staatsoper. DVD. TDK Marketing Europe GmbH, 2004.

Carmen: A Hip Hopera. Dir. Robert Townsend. 2001. MTV Productions. DVD. New Line Home Entertainment, 2002.

Carmen Jones. Dir. Otto Preminger. 1954. 20th Century Fox. Videocassette. Fox Video, 1994

Lubliner, Jacob. “SÉGUEDILLE (SEGUIDILLA)” Accessed 7 January 2006. http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/songtr/seguidilla.htm

McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings: music, gender, and sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.

Smith, Jeff. “Black Faces, White Voices: The Politics of Dubbing in Carmen Jones” The Velvet Light Trap. Number 51, Spring 2003. Accessed 15 December 2005. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_velvet_light_trap/v051/51.1smith.html

Appendix

Bizet’s Carmen: Près des remparts de Séville- The Seguidilla

Taken from the liner notes of Deutsche Grammaphon’s 1978 recording of Carmen

Carmen Near to the ramparts of Seville, at my friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern, I’m going to dance the seguidilla And drink manzanilla. I’m going to my friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern. Yes, but one gets bored alone, And real pleasures are shared by two, So to keep me company I’ll take my lover along. My lover! He’s disappeared; I showed him the door yesterday… My poor heart, which is easily consoled, my heart is as free as air. I’ve suitors by the dozen, But they’re not to my taste. Here we are at the end of the week; who wants to love me? I’ll love him. Who wants my heart? It’s there for the taking… You come at the right moment, I’ve scarcely time to wait, for with my new lover near to the ramparts of Seville, At my friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern, I’m going to dance the seguidilla and drink manzanilla. Yes, I’m going to my friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern!

Don Jose Keep quiet; I told you not to speak to me.

Carmen I’m not speaking to you: I'm singing to myself And just thinking— It’s not forbidden to think! I'm thinking of a certain officer, A certain officer who loves me And whom in my turn, yes In my turn, I might very well love…

Don Jose Carmen!

Carmen My officer isn’t a captain, Not even a lieutenant: he’s only a corporal, But that’s enough for a gypsy,

And I’m prepared to make do with him!

Don Jose Carmen, I’m like a man intoxicated; If I agree, if I give way, Will you keep your promise? If I love you, You will love me?

Carmen Yes.

Don Jose At Lillas Pastia’s tavern… Carmen …we will dance the seguidilla…

Don Jose You promise!

Carmen …and drink manzanilla.

Don Jose You promise!

Carmen Near to the ramparts of Seville, At my friend Lillas Pastia’s tavern, We’ll dance the seguidilla And drink manzanilla. Tra la la la la la la!

A second version of the Seguidilla (translation courtesy of http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/songtr/seguidilla.htm)

Carmen Right by the walls of Sevilla, At my old friend Lillas Pastia's, I'll go to dance the seguidilla And drink some manzanilla, I'll go to my old friend Lillas Pastia's. But all alone it's not much fun, True pleasure is when you're a pair; So, to make sure I've got someone, I'll bring my lover with me there! My lover man! To hell with him now! I broke up with him yesterday! And my poor heart's ripe for a whim now, My heart is free, it's free to play! I am pursued by scores of gallants; But none that I like through and through. Now here's the weekend - what's the balance? Who will love me? I'll love him too! Who wants my soul? It's ripe for mating! You have arrived right with the tide!

I have no time to waste by waiting, For with my new man by my side, Right by the walls of Sevilla, At my old friend Lillas Pastia's, I'll go to dance the seguidilla And drink some manzanilla, This Sunday I'll go to my old friend Pastia's! José Shut up, I'd told you to do no talking to me! Carmen I'm not talking to you, I'm singing for my pleasure, I'm singing for my pleasure! And I'm thinking! And thinking is not against the law! I'm thinking of a man of war, I'm thinking of a man of war who treasures Me and that I could, oh yes, I could Have loving feelings for! He's not a captain, though he's quite proficient, Not even one rank below, just an NCO; But for a Gypsy girl that's quite sufficient, And for me that can be just so! José Oh, Carmen, I feel on a bender, If I yield and if I surrender, To your promise you will be true, Oh, Carmen, Carmen, if I love you you'll love me too.

Carmen Jones: Deres a Café on de Corner (lyrics transcribed by me)

Deres a café on de corner Run by my frien’ Billy Pastor A spot where a man takes a lady when he wants to move faster Guess I’ll go an’ say hello to Pastor.

How kin a lady drink alone? How kin a lady dance alone? No lady kin romance alone— I oughta have a sweetie pie!

De one I had I give de air to – I threw his toothbrush out the door!

Now dat I’m free, my heart is sighin’. I’m off de hook, an’ lookin’ for more! Dozens o’ fellers telephone me, All axin’ me to make a date. I’m holdin’ out for sumpin’ special, But I don’ know how long I’ll wait!

Where will I wind up? Who’ll I be true to? Ain’ made my mind up, Waitin’ for you to! Whatcher say, brudder?

Whatcher say boy? Ain’ it time dat we got away?

Ten o’clock sharp on de corner See dat you’re right in dere pitchin’— ‘Cause I ain’ de kin’ of a mare dat’ll stan’ widout hitchin’! Now you got your little filly at the starting gate Got a little filly that is rarin’ to go!

Carmen: A Hip Hopera: The Last Great Seduction and Carmen Seduces Hill (lyrics transcribed by me)

The Last Great Seduction Carmen- What’s your name? Derek- Don’t worry about what my name is alright. C- The sociable type huh. Hill. Hill, you know you don’t want to take me to jail. D- Are you sure about that? C- Why don’t we go out and have some fun tonight at the club. D- You look like the type of woman I would meet at the club. Now, get in the car.

[the rap begins] C- I live my life to the fullest, party every chance I get. Friday night, the spot, is the place I hit. Decked out, chest out, me and my girls roll in the spot like we own the world. You should the eyes on me, dress fittin’ like a prize on me. High split, fellas get the rise on me. Just from the looks of it, I must say you bound to get hooked on it if you play.

D- You're optimistic for some one going to jail.

C- Would you stop being so damn stale! I know you got a girl, but damn don’t you want to see new things. Security shouldn’t purchase a ring.

D- So why you looking at me like that? Like what you say is true?

C- I know your type. I see through you.

D- Oh yeah? What you see? Cause I love my girl. It’s not about security; I’d give her the world. She's down for me and always has been--

C- And I would be too if I was your girlfriend. But I’m not. I’ll even take you to the spot. Bring sand to the beach, keep you on a leash. [?] I know how thirsty these chicks can be, schemin and plottin on you like me.

D- Listen, you’re a little too hot for a guy like me. You and I are unlikely. My girl is more like me. She's just cool you know. Not a risk taker she just goes with the flow.

C- She’s whack. You need a little spice in your life. Live a little, you’ll see. What you want in a wife is in me. I'm telling you it’s like gold; hard to let go, harder to hold. I’d dance with you slowly to a hip hop joint and only stop when I'm positive, you got the point.

D- I don’t dance. I don’t drink. I don’t like clubs. I'm not impressed. I don’t smoke. Only scrubs go to different places and fall for pretty faces. To me, y’all are basic.

C- And your life is wasted. That’s why you're a cop. You never got to taste it. If you had one drop, you wouldn’t go back. I’ll prove it to you. Come out with me tonight; that will do it for you.

Carmen Seduces Hill

C - You know you really, really, really, really, want to be with me So why don't you stop beating around the bush and come and give it to me Derek we can make beautiful music together if you only stop resisting the only woman that you really want and it's not wifey

D - Hey! You're real social I don't like the way you're looking Don't get too close I'm about to take you down to booking

C - C'mon and touch me D I know you want to

D - Look, I only need your prints, don't really care about your frontal

C - I don't see me living another day without your tender kisses Why don't we retire to the room, put on some Luther, light some incense Get to know one another just a little better than we do now

D - You trying to act like I'm not a cop

D - You can bring the cuffs, if you would like to, if that's your style

D - Looks let's get it straight, you cease and desist I got some platinum bracelets I'm about to squeeze on ya wrists

C - But you don't understand the way that I feel,

the pain I could heal

D - I could lose my job for this, there is no way we could chill

C - So why you bring me this far, now let's try to be real Cause only time will reveal if you still playing the field Every second that you stay is like an hour we will I got a couple days to kill, either you down or you peel

I don't want anything without you in my life, you are my baby Why don't you forget about your girl and say you want me as your lady Get to know one another just a little better than we do now Give in to everything you're feeling that's surprising Let's make love now

D - Nah, I don't think so, your body is like weed smoke though Light-headed, feel ya eyes saying please don't go

C - It ain't about getting locked cause it's your steeze I need My heart don't lie, come over D and feel my beat

D - Oh no! Cause I can see your skin is soft You know, but I dont wanna pay the cost to be with you

C - You can't deny your feelings for us, you know it's true

D - I gotta go, but really now I'm feeling you I wanna do it, but I don't You know, I'd feel your thigh, but I'm so full of decency

C - Go with your instincts and I'm sure it leads to me There's only moments to see if it is to be...