Last Sunday, we went to Lincoln Center to see the opera, La Bohème. The stage looked incredibly cool; it looked like a TV screen, and the background made it feel like you were actually there. Additionally, I liked how there were subtitles for each seat; privacy screens that covered them and it made the room extremely dark.
The scenes themselves were more interesting than I thought they would be, but I don’t think I would go to another one. I wish it were in English because it was a bit hard to watch what they were doing and read the subtitles at the same time.
Comparing La Bohème and Rent, I noticed many differences. To begin, a big one was the time period and location: La Boheme was set in Paris in the 1890s, while Rent took place in New York City, maybe in the 1980s. The main characters remained as poor artists who refused to pay rent; however, in La Bohème, they quickly pushed the issue away by distracting the landlord while in Rent, this event continued throughout the whole movie.
Both versions focused on the love and the strain of illnesses. However, in La Bohème, Mimi was suffering from Tuberculosis while in Rent, Mimi was suffering from AIDS. Mimi ended up passing away in La Bohème, while in Rent, she ended up surviving.
Another difference I noticed was Joanne. In both versions, Musetta/Maureen were known to be a flirt. However, in La Bohème, Marcello got back together with her, while in Rent, Mark didn’t get back together with her because Maureen was with Joanne. Also, Roger tried to avoid Mimi because he missed his last lover, who died from AIDS. While in La Bohème, Rodolpho was very quick to get with Mimi as he yearned for love.
In conclusion, there were many similarities and differences between La Bohème and Rent. I truly enjoyed experiencing both; it was my first time going to an opera, and I loved watching the movie Rent.
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