This sensuous staging of Bizet’s exotic pre- Carmen classic explodes with expressive patterns and extravagant colors created by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. But the priestess has one final trick left up her sari. The chieftain, picking through what’s left of his village and his heart, must condemn both his best friend and his greatest desire to death. That’s when the storm really hits the sand. To break her vow means certain death, but she and the young pearl diver fan the flames of a fiery forbidden love anyway. This “goddess among us” is a veiled priestess who wards off storms and evil spirits through a life of solitude and celibacy. Two old friends, one a simple pearl diver and the other a powerful island chieftain, are unexpectedly reunited with the woman whose beauty nearly destroyed their friendship. Librettists: Eugene Cormon & Michel CarreĪpproximate running time is 2 hours, 45 minutes with one intermission. Mack the Knife is the Man I Love: A Weill-Gershwin Cabaret.

Seattle opera pearl fishers