Inside Opera Online

 
Gilligan sings Hamlet’s Soliloquy to the tune of the Habanera from Carmen in this jaw-dropping collision of highbrow vs lowbrow art. From Gilligan’s Island, October 3, 1966 (featuring Phil Silvers and co-directed by Ida Lupino).

 
More from Hamlet on Gilligan’s Island with a bit of Carmen thrown in. This time Polonius (the Skipper) gives some sage advice to Laertes (Mary Ann): Neither a borrower nor a lender be … to thine own self be true … sung to the tune of the famous Toreador Song.

 
Pearl Bailey: Beat Out That Rhythm on the Drum”. The Carmen story is reset to the African American south in Carmen Jones, a 1943 Broadway musical by Oscar Hammerstein II and a 1954 film directed by Otto Preminger, with Dorothy Dandridge as Carmen, Harry Belafonte as Joe (Don José), and Pearl Bailey as Carmen’s friend Frankie. Enjoy this excerpt with its exuberant choreography and Pearl Bailey’s warm voice. Just try not to dance along!

 
Carmen Jones: The Habanera with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. Dorothy Dandridge was nominated for an Academy award for best actress for her performance in the title role. Although both Dandridge and Belafonte were fine actors and vocalists, they were not opera singers, and their voices in the movie were actually dubbed by a young Marilyn Horne and LeVern Hutcherson.

 
Dorothy Dandridge sings “Taking a Chance on Love” from Cabin in the Sky at the Velvet Nightclub in 1953. If you don’t know this wonderful singer, here’s a chance to hear her perform.

 
Samuel Ramey and the letter “L”. Join the Sesame Street gang for a rousing ode to the letter “L” with the great operatic bass Samuel Ramey as Escamillo the bullfighter, complete with glittery Toreador costume. Ramey sings the Toreador Song (with quite different words). Do sing along … La, la! Olé!

 
An orange sings the Habanera. Sesame Street presents an operatic orange, all dolled up as an occasionally off-tune Carmen who knows a thing or two about fluttering her eyelashes.

 
More Muppets: The Swedish Chef and Beaker try their hand at the Habenera. A surprise guest joins them at 52 seconds in. You don’t need to know the words to sing along.

 
Vladimir Horowitz: Variations on a theme from Carmen. In the 1920s the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz composed a set of variations on the Gypsy Dance in Carmen (“Les tringles des sistres tintaient”). Here he is playing this virtuoso showstopper at a Carnegie Hall concert in 1968.

 
Beyoncé Pepsi Commercial.
With apologies for such blatant product placement, here is Beyoncé singing The Joy of Pepsi, a 2003 commercial, to the tune of the Habanera from Carmen.

 
The trio “Soave sia il vento” from Mozart’s Così fan tutte with Nicolas Rivenq as Don Alfonso, Miah Persson as Fiordiligi and Anke Vondung as Dorabella. Glyndebourne Festival, 2006.

 
“O soave fanciulla” from Puccini’s La bohème with Nicole Car as Mimi and Michael Fabiano as Rodolfo. The Royal Opera Covent Garden, 2017.

 
“I know a bank” from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with countertenor Christopher Lowrey as Oberon. Grand Théâtre de Genève, 2015.

 
“Ein Schönes war” from Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with Jessye Norman as Ariadne. Metropolitan Opera, 1988.