The Bohemian

I've attended few plays in my life. One regret I have is not seeing Shakespeare performed in an outdoor theater in London when I had the chance. We saw La Boheme instead.

Giacomo Puccini wrote the Italian operetta that first opened on this day in 1896. He was no longer a starving artist, as a previous play had made him a star in the world of Italian opera, but La Boheme follows the struggling artists of Paris. Puccini based his characters on those of Henri Murger's collection of stories published in 1845. Another Italian writer, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Puccini's friend, was also writing a play based on Muger's work, also called La Boheme. Leoncavallo is known for other works, but his La Boheme is relatively unknown. Leoncavallo and Puccini's friendship didn't survive.

Puccini's follows Rodolfo and the woman he loves, Mimi. He's a poor poet. She's a poor seamstress. They live in Paris in the 1830s, in an attic with a group of other artists. It's in Italian of course, but you can follow along well enough, and if you've ever seen Rent, you know the storyline. I won't tell you the ending, in case you haven't seen it, but if I'd seen that production of Romeo and Juliet in London that day, I wouldn't have been sadder.

If you've never seen La Boheme, you're in luck! The Philadelphia Opera House is offering the play for the 2019 season. Tickets are available for dates in April and May.