Giacomo Puccini - La Bohème / Barker, Hobson, Luhrmann (Australian Opera)

Giacomo Puccini - La Bohème / Barker, Hobson, Luhrmann (Australian Opera) Review

I happen to love opera, but also know there are many people who say they would never watch or listen to one. Well, here is an opera production so carefully crafted, well sung & acted by a group of young, extremely talented people that it rivals -- in intensity and anticipation -- the very best daily soap operas on TV. Director Baz Luhrmann ("Moulin Rouge") has moved this "La Boheme" from 1890's Paris to 1950's Paris without losing an ounce of intensity; and he has given us a cast of singers from the Australian Opera whose vocal talents and physical appeal make watching and listening to this heartfelt story riveting, even for the most confirmed of non-opera skeptic. There are many other more traditional and excellent "Bohemes" available on CD or DVD sung by renouned singers, but none of them -- to my thinking, anyway -- can touch the total appeal of this all-around excellent production. I have never failed to show it to an audience who didn't want to see it again. Take a chance on it: you won't be disappointed!

Giacomo Puccini - La Bohème / Barker, Hobson, Luhrmann (Australian Opera) Overview

Puccini's heart-rending love story tells of high-spirited young bohemians who are strapped for cash but draw strength from each other, and the poet Rodolfo's deep love for the young seamstress, Mimì.

"This is surely one of the most engagingly inventive, thoughtfully witty and vital productions ever to enliven the Australian operatic stage." Sun Herald
"Tenor David Hobson and Soprano Cheryl Barker bring the lead roles thrillingly to life, playing on audience's heartstrings with their sweet duets and convincing acting." Telegraph Mirror

Featuring: Cheryl Barker Mimì; David Hobson Rodolfo; Roger Lemke Marcello; Christine Douglas Musetta; Gary Rowley Collin; David Lemke Schaunard. Conductor Julian Smith, Director Baz Luhrman ,Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, February 25, 1993.

Giacomo Puccini - La Bohème / Barker, Hobson, Luhrmann (Australian Opera) Specifications

It might be possible to know this La Bohème and not love it, but I have never met anyone who felt that way. "Oh yes," said a friend, "that's the good one where everybody is the right age." The youth and freshness of the singers are, in fact, major assets in this production. Youthful high spirits and vulnerability are delicately portrayed, with sharp contrasts between the Parisian bohemians' abject poverty and their carefree lifestyle. On DVD, La Bohème is the work where the competition is strongest. Solid arguments can be made for the staging of the Metropolitan Opera production or the vocal quality of the San Francisco production, but the Australian Opera offers the closest identification of performers with the characters they represent. The effect is usually touching, sometimes downright electrifying.

For this production, the story is moved up to Paris in the 1950s. A veneer of existentialism, a sense of the absurd, can be detected in the young men's lifestyle, but the implicit message is that, even with electricity (e.g., a massive neon sign celebrating "L'Amour"), bohemian life in the 1950s was essentially unchanged from the 1830s. There are good performances throughout, particularly by David Hobson (Rodolfo) and Cheryl Barker (Mimi), and the direction of Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge) is outstanding. --Joe McLellan

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