London Coliseum
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The story starts in Paris on Christmas Eve in an apartment shared between four young creatives. Given that they are each some form of an artist, they are struggling to heat their apartment and pay the rent and so Rodolfo offers to burn his play as fuel for the fire in a very comical scene. Afterwards, three of the men leave to have dinner at a café and Rodolfo stays behind as he has to finish an article. All of a sudden, there is some sort of a power cut in the apartment block and, shortly after, Mimi knock on the door asking Rodolfo to light her candle. The two are neighbours but have never seen each other before, and it is with remarkable speed that the light of love is lit and a passionate romance has been formed. The rest of the opera explores art, crippling poverty and, of course, love.
Jonathan Miller's production is very naturalistic and the set, in combination with the magical lighting, conjures up the atmosphere of Christmas Eve in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1930s perfectly. Or at least, what I imagine it would be like. There is the delightfully busy hullabaloo outside the café as young and old rush around and gather to see the marching band, and as children come together around a rather Charlie Chaplin-like toy-seller. As the scene progresses, the sky grows darker and the café tables are lit by lamps. There is nothing else to describe it as other than a beautiful Parisian wonderland! It certainly made me want to be French.
What is so wonderful about this production (and, in fact, all ENO productions) is that it is sung in English. Not only does this make opera accessible to those who are less accustomed to opera, but it also means that you can really enjoy the finer nuances of the writing. When the four men are with one another, they are constantly joking around and it is a real joy to be able to understand what they are singing. Whilst tragic moments can generally be understood without any words, it is much more difficult to understand witty humour. Being able to understand it all increased my enjoyment of the opera ten-fold. The scenes with the four men were my favourite and the singers acted with excellent comic timing.
The orchestration and music is amazing - it really is no wonder that La boheme is one of the most popular among both those who are opera aficionados and those who are not. The orchestra under Alexander Joel's conducting is perfection, and the conducting itself is very interesting and entertaining to watch! A marvellous opera - highly recommended!
There are lots of ways to save when going to the opera, and there is a really handy summary of all the different methods of saving here: https://www.eno.org/your-visit/ways-to-save-offers/ . There is also the really handy Opera Undressed scheme where you can get £20 tickets to see one of a selection of performances, (for this season The Magic Flute or The Merry Widow) and they include amazing seats, a free drink, and a pre-show performance talk. More information can be found here: https://www.eno.org/your-visit/ways-to-save-offers/opera-undressed/