Ah, another performance
of La Boheme. We will never tire
of Puccini’s famous classic. Boy
meets girl, Boy loses girl, girl dies story line.
Mimi and Rodolfo meet
when Mimi, his neighbor, knocks at his door. Her candle is blown out by the wind and as they look for her
dropped key, they fall in love.
The aria at this point is one of the the most beautiful.
In the second act we
meet the incomparable Musetta. I
think Musetta is a much more dynamic role and if I were an opera singer, I
would rather play her. Rudolfo,
Mimi and their friends go to a café to celebrate the holidays. The other part
of this act that I love is the townspeople, vendors and toy sellers’ gaiety around
them. It is one of the lighter
moments as Musetta and Marcello ignore one another but at the end of the second
act, they fall into each other’s arms.
In the 3rd
and 4th acts, Mimi’s health is deteriorating. She wants to break up with Rudolfo
because of her health and he is also jealous. She confides with Marcello and Rudolfo comes onto the scene,
overhearing her distress. They are
torn, but they get back together.
At the end of the 4th act, Mimi returns to Rudolfo and passes
away quietly. It is always a tear
jerker when Rudolfo discovers Mimi’s death and he wails in grief. Argh. It always gets me.
Beautiful and memorable
and I know this won’t be our last La Boheme. This would definitely be one of the plays I would recommend
to a first-timer to become oriented with Opera by starting with one of the best.
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