Carmen is probably everyone's favourite opera and even seems to work for people who don't like the musical genre.

We all know the tunes and it has many popular and hummable songs, like any West End show.

It doesn't matter what directors do with it, it always survives.

Turning it into the musical Carmen just made it even more popular. I have seen productions of Bizet's opera set in Latin American guerilla camps and in car scrapyards - but still Carmen goes on.

It wasn't always like that. On its opening night in Paris, it was booed and howled down. Luckily, on its second outing, in Vienna, it was greeted with acclaim. That praise has never died down.

This tale of a feisty gipsy girl's doomed love for the soldier Don Jose captures our imagination and it seems odd it took a French composer to paint the Spain we still see.

The production coming to the Brighton Centre on Sunday week has no tricks, unless you count the horses that grace the stage in Act Four.

The Chisinau National Opera of Moldavia is importing three majestic Andalusian horses, including white stallion Rodrigo, who appeared in the film Gladiator.

The production also boasts the Romale Gipsy Dance Troupe but this will be a new and traditional reading of the opera.

There is a lavish show and large cast.

The main set promises to be a fabulous recreation of Seville's main square, complete with working fountains and orange trees.

Of the horses, it is Rodrigo who will cause most interest. He is 15 hands high and eight years old and has been brought over from Spain for this tour.

A spokesman for Ellen Kent and Opera International, which is mounting the tour, said: "Rodrigo is being looked after by Animal Acting, which provides animals for all the big Hollywood films. He really lives like a king. On the day, he will be stabled and brought to the venue not long before he goes on stage.

"He will have been shown the set and worked on it. Rodrigo seems to have a real showbiz addiction.

"Once he hears the music, he is just raring to go."

The story of Carmen is based on a short story by Prosper Merimee, which paints a blacker picture of Don Jose than Bizet does.

It is a great opera for newcomers to the art form.

It begins with a smashing overture, contains great songs, deals with love and jealousy and has a great death scene.

Tickets £12.50 to £29.50. Call 0870 900 9100.