Anna Burnside reviews Scottish Opera’s revival of its 2017 production of the much-celebrated opera.
Selfie-taking tourists swarm present-day Paris, in some part because of the seedy glamour of the 1830s. Scottish Opera’s revival of its 2017 production is framed in the now, with visitors inhabiting a picture postcard of the buildings and markets that were once home to starving artists.
Then the 21st century fades away like a plangent accordion, and we are in a draughty garret with actual artists. Puccini adapted Henri Murger’s 1851 novel Scènes de la vie de Bohème without ever visiting the French capital - the theme of inhabiting a city of the imagination is never far from the surface in Barbe & Doucet’s maximalist production, which they designed as well as directed.
All the elements that make this one of the world’s most-performed operas are present and correct. Rodolfo and Marcello’s attic, so cold they have to burn Rodolfo’s play script to keep warm, has something of the Young Ones about it. Mimi is sickly, Musetta is a man-eater.
South Korean soprano Hye-Youn is a delightful Mimi, fragile yet spirited. The scene in act three, where she overhears Rodolfo admit how worried he is about her, is hugely moving. Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang matches her with a sensitive, nuanced performance.
Audience favourite Roland Wood relishes his role as artist/wingman Marcello and Rhian Lois brings spark and energy as Musetta.
Add in plenty of French dressing - a leopard on wheels, a donkey, a man with a strong resemblance to Karl Lagerfeld - and it’s easy to see why the myth of the Bohemian is going nowhere.
La bohème performs at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow until October 25, 2025 on alternative days before touring to His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen, Eden Court in Inverness and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. For further details, go to the company’s website.
Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic.
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