Puccini’s La bohème is one of the most popular operas world-wide, hardly leaving the top ten list of most performed in any given year. Welsh National Opera’s current production of this heart-breaking tale is set to return to the stage as part of our Autumn 2022 Season.
Written in the 1890s, La bohème follows a group of four struggling artists living in Bohemia, Paris on the left bank of the Seine in the 1830s. In 1849 the French publication La Silhouette romantically described the area as ‘Bohemia is a district in the department of the Seine bordered on the north by cold, on the west by hunger, on the south by love and on the east by hope.’
WNO’s production is set at the turn of the 19th century and when we, the audience, meet the penniless friends on Christmas Eve, their rundown attic apartment is almost as cold as outside on the streets, with the poet in the group, Rodolfo, sacrificing his books to the fire.
When three of the group have gone out to a local café, a neighbour, Mimì, knocks on the door looking for a light for her candle. It is soon obvious she isn’t well and just as obvious that Rodolfo has taken a shine to her – he pretends he can’t find her key when she drops it, to keep her there, with him.
This being what it is, an operatic love story, she falls in love with him too and so they head off to meet the others in Café Momus. When they get there, they find the other friends celebrating the festive season, that is until Marcello spots Musetta, a girl he has an on-again-off-again relationship with, flirting with an older – wealthy – man. He is not happy and tries to pretend she isn’t there but soon gives in when she sends her elderly admirer away. Running away to enjoy the festivities, the group think nothing of leaving the bill for this admirer, Alcindoro, to pay when he returns.
Some time has passed when we next catch up with them at a toll gate on the outskirts of the city, and it looks like all is not well in the world of the lovers. Rodolfo has become jealous and possessive of Mimì and so they talk of breaking up to their friends, Marcello and Musetta, but in reality, Rodolfo is consumed by fear of her death.
Mimì, by this time, is so physically frail that when Musetta brings her to the attic, all the friends feel the hopelessness of the situation and sacrifice what they can to provide some form of comfort in her last hours. Tactfully they all depart on errands, leaving Rodolfo and Mimì to rekindle memories of their love story as she dies.
Whether this is your first performance, or you have seen it before, this classic opera is a true tearjerker that, like Rodolfo’s books, will become a time-worn favourite. Make sure you see it this Autumn.