Looking for your dream cast in the Teatro Real’s 16-show run of Carmen? Aigul Akhmetshina and J’Nai Bridges, who alternate for most of the run, rank with the most scorching interpreters of the indomitable heroine currently on the boards; who’s to say Ketevan Kemoklidze, who steps in for two shows, isn’t next in line? Charles Castronuovo and Michael Fabiano appear as the pathologically possessive Don José, driven to murder by demons of his own, though he prefers to blame the victim. Lucas Meecham, Luca Micheletti, and Dmity Cheblykov step out as the bullfighter Escamillo, last of Carmen’s lovers, cross-eyed with desire though well aware that her passions always cool in six months, tops. Adriana González and Miren Urbieta-Vega are double-cast as Micaëla, José’s girl back home, who deserves better. Eun Sun Kim conducts all but the last two shows; then it’s Iñaki Encina’s turn with Bizet’s irresistible score. Just one director, though, the fashionable Damiano Michieletto. —Matthew Gurewitsch