August 20, 2026
Athens, GR 14 C
Expand search form
Blog

Carmen Jones, RIP

Carmen Jones, RIP

In my very early teens, I sneaked into an over-16s ‘A’ film of an all-black casting of Bizet’s opera Carmen.

Never having seen Carmen in an opera house, I was overwhelmed and not a little confused by the sexual energies that swirled through Carmen Jones and I still call it to mind when watching yet another live Carmen in the opera house.

The star of Otto Preminger’s film – and the only one who sang her part rather than having it dubbed, was Olga James. She just died, aged 95. Olga never got offered another film role.

I got caught and banned from that cinema.

The post Carmen Jones, RIP appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

Paris mourns opera chorusmaster, 99

Next Article

Baltimore is mired in further misery

You might be interested in …

Freddie wows the Met

Freddie wows the Met

First reports from British tenor Freddie de Tommaso’s Metropolitan Opera debut last night speak of standing Os and whoops of approval. Lise Davidsen, who was singing her first Met Tosca, was applauded before she even […]

Wagner’s Vakkyrie storm through Longborough

Wagner’s Vakkyrie storm through Longborough

Die Walküre stands at the pinnacle of Romantic musical drama. Barely has the curtain opened when Wagner unleashes orchestral writing that sweeps everything away in its path. Storm, incest, divine wrath, irrepressible passion: everything is there […]