To those fans of tragic, unfulfilled love out there, you might have another tale to add to your repertoire. “La Bohème,” Giacomo Puccini’s classic starving-artist opera, is making its way to Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts.
“La Bohème” tells the story of Marcello and Rodolfo, impoverished friends trying to survive their liberating yet harsh Bohemian lifestyle in Paris.
Rodolfo becomes acquainted with the young seamstress Mimi, who lives in another room in their building. She knocks on their door and asks for a light for her candle, which has blown out.
A flirtatious exchange with Rodolfo becomes something more, and in grand operatic tradition, they soon sing songs of their love for one another.
But as time marches forward and illness strikes, love may not be enough to pull them out of their physical afflictions.
Since its premiere in Turin, Italy, in 1896, “La Bohème” has inspired many famous modern works.
One such adaptation is Jonathan Larson’s exultant musical “Rent,” which exists as an updated version of the famous opera. Similarly, “Rent” helped raise the visibility of the AIDS crisis, putting forth a more uplifting portrait of the issue through its music and characters.
“La Bohème” is the opera that spawned the “Rent” phenomena, a feature film and a 10-year run on Broadway. Not a bad deal for what some people might call a real downer of a story.
This particular production is gaining a lot of notice for its cast.
“Every time I see ‘La Bohème’ I find something new and wonderful about this stunning work,” said Kevin Patterson, the Austin Lyric Opera’s general director. “We’ve assembled a cast of young, talented singers who epitomize the Bohemians of Puccini’s day.”
Thirty-year-old French tenor Sébastien Guèze leads the cast as Rodolfo. By his side is soprano Dina Kuznetsova, an alumna of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago.
Much of the cast, Guèze and Kuznetsova included, are making their Austin Lyric Opera debut with this production, so followers of Austin opera will see a bevy of new faces and performances.
College students seem to evade this kind of event. Opera is an investment of both money and time. It is for the upper classes, for those who don suits and furs and drink cocktails with pinkies sticking out.
But this isn’t the case at all. Austin Lyric Opera, in an effort to attract the college crowd, offers student discounts one hour before every show, shaving off half of the ticket price. Tickets run from $29 to a steeper $133, but even the most frugal student can enjoy a night at the opera for the same price as dinner and a movie.
You might not have the best seat in the house, but it isn’t about the spectacle of the performance — it’s about the music, and this production promises to deliver on that front.
Plus, as a four-act production (something that will take absolute dedication), you are practically guaranteed to get your money’s worth.
And for those opera virgins who want to dip a toe in to test the waters, this classic is the perfect place to start.
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