Leeds Grand Theatre – until 22nd November
Reviewed by Dawn Smallwood
4****
Opera North brings Puccini’s La Bohème, in their 2025/26 season. It is a revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s production which was first performed in 1993. The four-act opera is based on Henry Murger’s Scènes de la vie de bohème and Thèodore Barrière’s La Vie de bohème and it premiered in 1896 in Italy.
La Bohème is about four bohemians, artists, who live together in Paris and are struggling to make ends meet. One Christmas Eve, Mimi (Olivia Boen), knocks on the apartment door looking for her candle to be lighted, and there she meets Rodolfo (Anthony Ciaramitaro) and they both fall in love. The love of the first sight eventfully leads to tragedy where Mimi is seriously ill and the challenge, due to poverty, remains for Rodolfo and his friends to care and provide for her.
This production is set in in the late 1950s in Paris where a celebration of existentialism and the café culture being part and parcel of everybody’s lives whether they are aplenty or have limited means. This is affirmed in Puccini’s versatile, realistic, and well-known musical score, describing the Bohemian’s ambience, atmosphere, and energy. Each of the characters are given their own recognisable signature tune.
Lloyd’s production is successfully revived by James Hurley and Maxine Braham’s choreography. Anthony Ward’s set and costumes fittingly support the staging and the flexible scene changes which Rick Fisher’s lighting is revived by Richard Moore. Excellent emotive portrayals of Mimi by Boen and Rodolfo by Ciaramitaro and they are supported by the cast, Chorus of Opera North, and Opera North Youth Company under the baton of Garry Walker.
La Bohème is a successful revival of Lloyd’s production, which was first staged over 30 years and remains popular among the audience today. It is said that the opera and its themes resonate to everyone today particularly with the cost of living and the quest to enjoy life despite what one faces. An emotive, energetic, and realistic opera.