BERLIN -- "Carmen in Khayelitsha" bravely transfers Georges Bizet's "Carmen," undoubtedly the opera with the greatest number of "hit" songs, from the slums of 19th century Seville to the present-day township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa. The entire libretto is translated into the Xhosa language, which is brilliantly sung by an extremely talented lyric theater company in Cape Town called Dimpho Di Kopane. Whether this all works will be a matter of opinion -- mine is that it does not -- but the experiment is fascinating.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.