Boston Lyric Opera: La Boheme

BIENVENUE A PARIS, 1968

Following the lives of four young bohemians as they fight, fantasize and fall in (and out) of love in the face of poverty, La Boheme is widely regarded as one of Puccini's greatest works, spawning myriad adaptations, even becoming the basis for hit musical RENT. Although the struggle and strife (and excitement) of 1840's Paris may seem worlds away to us now, the themes have remained timeless and universal.

Directed by Rosetta Cucchi, Boston Lyric Opera have updated the tale to Paris, 1968, in a production inspired by the themes of French New Wave Cinema and the student rebellion that ushered in sexual liberation and furious idealism.

WHO ARE THE BOHEMIANS?

Since the nineteenth Century, people have been referring to bohemians, who were usually artists, musicians and writers who lived life for the experience (and the absinthe.) The characters of La Boheme are just like that, down on luck and rent, but high on love and life. There's Roldofo and Mimi, an everlasting couple for whom struggle often gets in the middle, and Muschetta and Marcello, the outrageous, flirtatious ones who always seem to find their way back to each other. You can't fail to enjoy the riotous and charismatic tales of these wild young things!