FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Carmen, the opera heroine, gets to live instead of being slain — thanks to a bold twist to the finale of the Georges Bizet work by some who believe it's time to say enough to violence against women.

The production of "Carmen" this month at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino theater in Florence is the talk of the town, and sold out through the last performance Jan. 18.

In the classic opera, first performed in Paris in 1875, Carmen is murdered by Don Jose. But the cast thought the time was ripe for a new finale, and so this production's ending has the heroine shooting Don Jose to death.

Soprano Veronica Simenoi said before Wednesday's performance that "it's a way to say to all, men and women, 'enough of the violence.'"