LA BOHÈME

Giacomo Puccini | Opera in four acts.
Sung in Italian | Running time: c. 2 hours 45 minutes (including two intervals).

Teeming with period detail, John Copley's definitive production of this much-loved opera is traditional opera at its best. From a shabby garret to the bustling Café Momus to a snowy courtyard at dawn, this minutely observed panorama of 1830s Parisian life, beautifully designed by Julia Trevelyan Oman, conjures emotions and atmosphere ranging from joy to tragedy, in large-scale crowd scenes and intimate tableaux.

Puccini no doubt drew on his own student escapades - which anticipated his later reputation as a legendary bon viveur - for the robust humour of the comic scenes. And in his depiction of the tender and ultimately tragic love between Mimì (Maija Kovalevska) and Rodolfo (Dmytro Popov), Puccini achieved an immediacy, warmth and humanity that have rarely been equalled.

DELAYED LIVE FROM THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE TUESDAY 15 JANUARY 2013
AT 7.15PM.