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La Bohème at the Met (thepoliticker.observer)
Susanna Phillips as Musetta (Photo courtesty of the Metropolitan Opera)
It was the evening after Christmas in 1900 when the Metropolitan Opera
Company, on tour in Los Angeles, premiered _La Bohème_. It was years before
Giacomo Puccini’s opera became widely acknowledged as the masterpiece it is,
and, just four years old at the time, it was by no means an immediate success,
still requiring the star power of soprano Nellie Melba. Ms. Melba, encouraged
by the applause, as well as the box office, would return after the final
curtain call to sing the grueling “Mad Scene” from _Lucia di Lammermoore_.
These days, _La Bohème_ remains one of the only operas that doesn’t require
such gimmicks to keep the house full, as proved by its triumphant return to
the Met this fall.
With Puccini’s talent for interweaving dream-like lyricism and dramatic
storytelling in a way that still manages to tug on our heartstrings over a
century later, it’s no wonder that _La Bohème,_ along with _Madama Butterfly_,
_Turandot_ and _Tosca_, remains one of the most popular operas. Since its
California debut, _La Bohème_ has been omitted from only six of the Met’s 111
seasons, a testament to …
Home Theatre Stage Curtains by Draper
