Puccini’s La bohème is one of the world’s most performed operas – and a cornerstone in the history of the National Opera. Generation after generation, audiences have been captivated by the love story between Rodolfo and Mimì.
Long Live the Bohemian Life
Throughout time, young people have lived as if they were immortal. Step into the eternal world of the bohemians – in R. B. Schlather's new version of Puccini's classic.
We meet the young poet Rodolfo and his neighbor Mimì, who fall in love at first sight. Together with their friends Marcello, Colline, and Schaunard, they live the bohemian life on the fringes of society. Through art, friendship, and love, they create a space where reality is kept at bay.
But the canvas cannot be idealized. Mimì is seriously ill.
Immortal Classic
“People die and governments change, but the music of La bohème will live forever.” This was written by inventor Thomas Edison to composer Giacomo Puccini. In La bohème, Puccini allows the music to live and breathe with the people on stage – in the long lines of “O soave fanciulla,” where Mimì and Rodolfo fall in love and time seems to stand still, in Musetta's light, wandering waltz “Quando me’n vo’,” and in the deafening silence when breath ceases and death arrives.
In the role of Mimì, we meet Victoria Randem and Ruzan Mantashyan.
When Victoria Randem last sang the title role in Stefan Herheim's The Cunning Little Vixen, the press responded with standing ovations – and a Heddaprice for Best Stage Performance in Musical Theatre. She has previously sung Musetta in La bohème at Staatsoper Berlin – now we meet her for the first time as Mimì.
Andrei Danilov and Carlos Cardoso share the role of Rodolfo.
