[2] It opened "scandalously and brilliantly, with the fabulously sexy Zizi Jeanmaire in the title role" in London and has been regularly performed ever since.
[3] The first scene is set in a street in Seville (Sevilla), Spain, where the dancing of a crowd is interrupted by a girl being chased by Carmen.
That evening in the tavern Don José enters and dances a zapateado to the music of the habanera.
The final scene is set outside the bull-ring where girls await the arrival of their hero, the toreador.
The toreador moves into the arena whereupon Don José threatens Carmen, and in a fight to the death he overcomes her.