Miami Ballet Adds Poker Storyline To Classic OperaSouth Florida's Production Of "Carmen" Now Has Scenes Influenced By The 2017 Poker Film "Molly's Game" |
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Poker has been the inspiration for many films through the years – from the life of old-school pros to the online poker boom and more.
Hollywood seems drawn to the romance and characters that surround the game. But musicals and other Broadway-type shows haven’t shown the same interest. That may now be changing.
The Miami City Ballet recently debuted a new, modern version of a classic opera called “Carmen.”
Now, much of the story’s events are inspired by the high-stakes underground poker games documented in the 2017 poker film Molly’s Game. A film that received high praise from four-time World Poker Tour champ Darren Elias.
The original version debuted in Paris in 1875 and was set in southern Spain. The production tells the story of soldier Don José, a naïve soldier whom Carmen seduces. The English National Opera describes the story as “a searing depiction of a woman who craves love but creates obsession and jealousy " and says the opera “is one of the most popular operas ever written.”
The new Miami City Ballet version portrays Carmen as a card dealer looking to seize power. Like Molly Bloom, the production casts Carmen as an influential central figure in the story.
“Instead of just being a love story, I wanted her to become a card dealer and then slowly in the ballet she becomes more and more powerful and then show runs her own poker games,” choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa told WPLG.
Ochoa hoped to give modern audiences something different with the retelling of the famed opera as a modern ballet.
“I want to give them drama, sexiness and entertainment,” she said. “It’s also going to be a celebration for the eyes.”
The production runs through May 4 at the Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami.
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