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:

Simon Thomas - 3 August 2010

NOTE: The following review dates from January 2010 and this production's original run at the Cock Tavern in Kilburn. Aspects of the script have been updated to set the story in Soho for the run at Soho Theatre.

OperaUpClose’s pared-down production of La bohème isn’t just updated and set in Kilburn; it drags Kilburn into the opera itself, with a backdrop of red buses, the High Road’s Poundland and the teeming reality of everyday life whipping away the cosy sequesteredness we’re used to in the theatre.

For Act 2’s Café Momus, director Robin Norton-Hale ingeniously transfers the audience to the pub downstairs, an obvious choice but a brave one, with bemused real-life punters threatening to invade the action and an edgy unpredictability as passers-by peer in through the front window and singers spill onto the streets. If Puccini’s never seen the like, Kilburn hasn’t either.

The café scene works mar...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 12 August 2010:

I enjoy listening to opera but have rarely felt tempted to attend, put off partly by the language barrier and also that many opera singers are reputed to be very poor actors. All of which made OperaUpClose's production of La Boheme so enticing. Staged in the cosy Soho Theatre and in the downstairs bar it's translated into English and updated so as to be very recognisable to anyone more familiar with Rent. The young cast sing beautifully and there is superb accompaniment from a brilliant sole pianist and the bar scene is a riot, bringing Dean Street to a halt outside. However, the libretto sometimes sounds clumsy and clunky and is not always legible - perhaps it would be better in Italian with the voices used as instruments forming part of a beautiful score. This remarkable production will live long in the memory and I would be very intersted to see more of this company's work, but it also confirmed some of my prejudices about opera....

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