Laboheme

LaBoheme (The Bohemian) follows a group of young artists in 19th-century Paris whose lives are full of creativity, friendship and hardship.

At its heart is the tender love story between the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi, whose chance meeting in a chilly garret sparks an instant, luminous connection.

Their romance unfolds against the boisterous energy of the Latin Quarter, where their friends chase pleasure, passion and fleeting success.

As winter closes in, Mimi's worsening illness casts a shadow over the lovers' fragile happiness.

The friends rally around her, but poverty and circumstance make their efforts heartbreakingly insufficient.

Puccini's score wraps every moment in soaring lyricism, creating an unforgettable portrait of youth, love and loss.Sonya Yoncheva and Charles Castronovo lead an award-winning cast in Richard Jones's acclaimed production of Puccini's most heartrending opera.

Emmanuel Villaume conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus in some of the composer's most luscious and memorable music.

Spectacular designs by Stewart Laing for this Royal Opera production set the passion, friendship, comedy and tragedy in late 19th-century Paris.

The production evokes the vulnerability of youth amid the harshness and glamour of the big city, and contrasts the poverty of the bohemians' attic home with the splendour of Paris's shopping arcades on Christmas Eve."There are Puccini operas that some of us might not miss never seeing again.

But La Boheme is incontrovertibly not one of them.

One takes a seat for La Boheme with happy anticipation.

When Puccini duly captures you with his brilliantly written and constructed score, those expectations are rarely disappointed - and certainly not in this Covent Garden revival.""The acid test of production and performance is whether the power of Puccini's score gets through and there can be no doubting that, on this occasion, that was the case, and Puccini emerged triumphant. (Seen and Heard)"This second revival of Richard Jones's production is ably directed by Julia Burbach, employing a light touch that brings out the humour of Jones's work.

It opens in the freezing attic home of the titular bohemians.

The set is stripped back and bare, the lighting stark.

It draws you in immediately.

The singing here is superb.

Charles Castronovo as Rodolfo is particularly strong.

Sonya Yoncheva as his lover Mimi seems less assured at the start but soon finds her voice.

Her acting remains convincing throughout.

This is a largely faithful version of Puccini's classic, with a light touch and a sprinkling of humour among the tragedy." Opera For All