This year’s Royal Borough Youth Opera production brings one of the most well-known tragic love-stories to the Farrer Theatre Stage. Oscar Hammerstein adapted Bizet’s opera Carmen for its first performance on Broadway in 1943 and it was subsequently made into an award-winning film in 1954. The Spanish setting has been replaced by a US Army base, where local girls work in the nearby factory making parachutes for the soldiers; the bull -fighting toreador is Husky Miller, the champion boxer. The story is full of drama and the cast bring out the passion and the poignancy of the young soldier, Joe’s destructive relationship with Carmen. The music is unmistakably Bizet with all the well-known melodies from the original opera Carmen: The Toreador’s Song, The Habanera and the wonderfully vibrant chorus with dance Beat out that Rhythm on a Drum. The show is a powerful mixture of the most well-known music from the world of opera and a compelling love story that ends in tragedy.


The Royal Borough Youth Opera perform with original sets and a full professional orchestra.


The last four productions have been a complete sell-out so please book your seats early to avoid disappointment.

Any booking requests received after Wednesday 30 June wil not be posted but will be able to be collected on the door.