La bohème

With Moulin Rouge doing well at the box office at the moment, I decided to see whether the IMDB contained an entry for the video of Luhrmann's original opera production La Boheme, the one that contains the huge rooftop sign saying L'Amour, which also features in Moulin Rouge. Well, it's here but no user comments at all. What a shame!

This Australian production is a wonderful La Boheme, more like a musical than an opera and not really for opera buffs. At the time of its first production it really was a production of the young, all the main singers as well as designer Catherine Martin and Baz himself being under thirty. The singers are good but not the very best, but most non-opera lovers will trade that in for singers who look the part. David Hobson is great looking as is Cheryl Barker who really does look consumptive at the end. And they can act. In the curtain calls at the end Hobson is really crying. This is emphatically not one of those opera productions where you desperately try to forget that the singers are middle-aged, decidedly rotund and definitely not suffering.

The design is beguiling, setting the opera in 1950s Paris complete with cool leather jackets, new look dresses and bright lights amid post-war drabness. It is stagey, because this is a video of a stage production but the original direction was very fluid and the set works beautifully. As with all updating there are problems with anachronisms (no wall around Paris is a problem). But these are small points. This was Baz Luhrmann's first hurrah and a great one too. Don't know how readily available it is but rush to see it if you can.

This is a superb staging of an opera that never fails. Singers have been cast for dramatic effect. David Hobson is particularly effective. Musical purists should look elsewhere (Hobson has a passable, but very light voice), but anyone else will really enjoy this production. That the director is Baz Luhrmann and it has a definite affinity with the new movie Moulin Rouge, adds to its value.

In the 50's, in Paris, the neighbors Rodolfo (David Hobson) and Mimi (Cheryl Barker) meet each other when Mimi's candle blows out in a cold and dark night. They immediately fall in love for each other, in times of financial difficulties in the post-war. Rodolfo introduces Mimi to his close friends Marcello (Roger Lemke) and his beloved Musetta (Christine Douglas); Colline (Gary Rowley); and Schaunard (David Lemke) and together they have a good-time in Café Momus. Some time later, Mimi tells Marcello that she can not support the jealousy of Rodolfo any longer and when Marcello discuss with Rodolfo, Mimi overhears the real reason for the behavior of her beloved Rodolfo.

This is the first time I see "La Bohème", inclusive my greatest interest is to compare the Australian version on DVD with the version that will be played in Teatro Municipal next Friday in Rio de Janeiro. Baz Luhrmann's adaptation is a modern love story that recalls a musical instead of a conventional opera, and has excellent interpretations, highlighting David Hobson, Cheryl Barker, Roger Lemke and Christine Douglas in the lead roles. The camera is excellent, considering that it is a live presentation, inclusive with great closes. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "La Bohème"

Not only is this a wonderful and accessible production of Puccini's great opera, it also suggests the origins of much that Baz Luhrmann has done since, especially in "Moulin Rouge".

Luhrmann has set it in a more modern time than is usual, with many of his later trademarks in evidence, such as the 'L'amour' sign. It is a fresh, vigorous and youthful production, as Puccini no doubt intended it to be.

The leads are not only great singers, but are young and good looking, giving a visual credibility and beauty to match the sound.

I cannot recommend this film too highly to opera lovers. I love it.

Boheme always makes me cry (a lot), but I don't recall any of the dozens of performances I've seen having this effect on me. I'm quite used to suspending reality when looking at large, mature singers portraying teenagers, but when you have singers who not only look the part but can act... it makes 'big name' productions a bit like too much wedding cake all at once...

Just wonderful, especially David Hobson. Buy it. Now.