La Boheme

Why Watch La Boheme

Puccini’s La Boheme was destined to become one of the most frequented of operas. It was one of the waves of revolutionary operas that brought the life of common people to the opera stage. The now-familiar tale of the two young artists, Rodolfo and Marcello, as they negotiated their complicated lives and their respective love affairs with the poor seamstress, La Boheme has become a beloved classic. The staging of this new production has been entrusted to director Claus Guth who sets the mood in the future, millions of light-years away, in a space which is devoid of love and hope. Puccini’s story does not lend itself for abstraction easily which is why this production is as inventive as they come. The story, told to the audience through a number of log entries translated by Rodolfo straight from the crutches of his past memory, is that the four Bohemians are on a space expedition that becomes increasingly hopeless with little chance for survival. The first half of the opera takes place in the space capsule, while the second half finds the cast padding about in a lunar landscape accompanied by space-suited astronauts. Mimi is brought alive in the mind of Rodolfo in a stunning red dress which gives away the impression that Rodolfo longs for feminine companionship after being cooped up in space for too long.

This staging represents a genuine attempt on Guth’s part to engage with one of the best-loved works in the canon.

The Show

No one has done a better job in explaining the plight of the half-starved, struggling artists of mid-nineteenth-century Paris better than Henri Murger in La Boheme. A bunch of Bohemian artists are ready to burn a manuscript to keep them warm, yet, in an era of triumphant bourgeois materialism, they dream of another time, another existence. Puccini offers us a heartbreaking love story with some of the most beautiful and moving music in the history of opera, all while telling the story of the poet Rodolfo and the fragile Mimi.

Set in space, much of the story is a flashback in the mind of Rodolfo who reminisces of the timeless love he shared with Mimi.

Good For

Fans of Romantic Tales | Lovers of Opera | Fans of Giacomo Puccini