La boheme

Synopsis

Puccini's most enduring opera. The story of the love of the poor poet Rodolfo for the consumptive seamstress Mimi. Set in the Latin Quarter of Paris the course of their love is constantly threatened by Rodolfo's jealousy and Mimi's illness. The painter Marcello and the provocative Musetta are the other main characters. This is where 'your tiny hand is frozen' comes from and the last few bars, as Rodolfo realises Mimi is dead, are some of opera's most moving moments.

Our Review:

4 May 2010

Given opera companies’ practice of reviving productions at fairly long intervals with (often) completely different casts, it is sometimes difficult to predict how a much-loved production will fare next time round. For instance Opera North was canny enough to attempt a revival of its triumphant Gloriana only when many of the original principals (notably Josephine Barstow) were in place.

But La Bohème, directed (as was Gloriana) by Phyllida Lloyd, has always seemed a cast-iron five-star production. Only the most literal-minded would find the updating to the 1950s other than revelatory. Perhaps it should be termed the Phyllida Lloyd-Anthony Ward La Boheme because images stay with you over the years of his ingenious designs: the garret dominated by the motor-bike and the huge stove, the (literally) swinging Cafe Momus scene, with Lloyd’s gloriously flowing movement and the roller-skating toyseller.

January’s revival was good, but didn’t spark i...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review