Carmen: A Hip Hopera

Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a 2001 American musical romantic drama television film directed by Robert Townsend. Starring Beyoncé Knowles in her debut acting role (predating her theatrical film debut in Austin Powers in Goldmember) along with Mekhi Phifer, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Reagan Gomez-Preston (who had previously worked with Townsend on The Parent 'Hood, which ended in 1999), Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow, it is based upon the 1875 opera Carmen by Georges Bizet, Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac, but set in modern-day Philadelphia and Los Angeles and featuring a mostly original hip-hop/R&B score in place of Bizet's opera. The film premiered on MTV on May 8, 2001. The film is the second major African-American adaptation of the opera, the first being the 1943 Broadway musical Carmen Jones and its 1954 Academy Award-nominated film adaptation.