The lusty “Carmen” sashays her way to Seattle Opera and she’s on Facebook!

Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili makes her Seattle Opera debut as Carmen, a seductive and fickle gypsy. Photo: © Marco Brescia/Teatro alla Scala photo

Seattle Opera’s next production, the eagerly awaited “Carmen” opens this Saturday, October 15 with a sexy cast and a thrilling production directed by Bernard Uzan and starring Anita Rachvelishvili, as Carmen, making her Seattle Opera debut, who has performed the role at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, among others. The New York Times called her “a significant talent” and found her “in her element in scenes that required raw emotion and full-throttled singing.”

One of the most beloved operas in the world, Bizet’s “Carmen” features passionate romance, lurid drama and Hitchcockian thrills in a Spanish setting involving cigarette mills, bull fighters, gypsies and smugglers all connected by the lush music of Bizet and some very familiar tunes…another opera score that even non-opera fans will recognize.

And, in a charming and clever promotional stunt, the characters of “Carmen” have taken to Facebook to connect with one another with Carmen casually “poking” Don José and attempting to seduce him with digital flowers. I also love Carmen’s declaration of “TGIF…lets meet up at the tavern!” Check out the entire faux Facebook stream at the Seattle Opera blog.

“Carmen” will have seven performances between October 15 and October 29 and tickets are still available.