La Bohème by Giacomo Verdi
NBR New Zealand Opera

St James Theatre Wellington
May 10 - 17

Aotea Centre, The Edge, Auckland
May 29 - June 7

La Bohème which is in the top ten of the most popular of all operas is much more than just another tragic love story. It’s a timeless celebration of youthful rites of passage, the struggle against poverty, and the artist’s quest for integrity. Puccini created a lyrical tour de force with tortured relationships, resonant characters and the famous arias.

This new production of La Bohème has a strong cast with Australia stars Antoinette Halloran as Mimì and Tiffany Speight as Musetta who returns to New Zealand after her superb performance in The Magic Flute in 2006.
Tenor Jesus Garcia, who starred on Broadway in Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème, plays Rodolfo.

Puccini’s La Bohème, arguably the most popular of all operas, gets a face lift in 2008. The NBR New Zealand Opera’s new production sees a vibrant cast and creative team bring this timeless classic back to life in a fresh and stylish way.
The director Australians Patrick Nolan says of this production “Our concept is driven by a desire to illuminate the story in a way which connects the past to who we are as a society and culture now,”
“The time period has been moved from 1830 to 21st century Paris so our production presents a world that contemporary audiences will recognise and relate to.”

In keeping with this modern update, costume designer Elizabeth Whiting has created a range of sharp and imaginative costumes that place the characters in the Paris of today.
General Director of The NBR New Zealand Opera, Aidan Lang is thrilled with the cast and creative team the Company has lined up for this new production. “La Bohème is an opera about young people,” he says, “so we wanted to secure an exciting, youthful cast and creative team who would, through an injection of freshness and energy and a contemporary perspective, create a memorable theatrical showpiece for audiences.”

John Daly-Peoples, NBR 28 March 2008.