Last Saturday we went to see the classic Italian opera La Boheme. I, like most of us, had never been to an opera before so I was intrigued to see what it was all about. I was also pleasantly surprised by the little screen with subtitles in front of my chair. I thought I’d have to decipher the Italian to understand.
In terms of the opera experience itself, it was amazing. Watching the live pit alone took my breath away, let alone the sets and the vocals. Hands down the most realistic sets I’ve seen in live theatre. I really felt like I was looking at a miniature scene plucked from reality in 19th century Paris.
When it came to the actual plot, I felt like there wasn’t enough substance. The story was very simply two lovers meeting, falling in love, breaking apart, the girl falling ill and ultimately dying in his arms. There wasn’t enough around for me.
Rent, the musical/movie based on the opera which was based on the book Scenes from a Latin Quarter, has the same premise as La Boheme but there was a lot more going on which I liked. First of all it was set in 1989 NYC but still had the same basic theme of struggling artists living in poverty. In Rent, aids was a huge focal point in the musical and many of the main characters had it. This differs from the opera because in the opera only Mimi got sick not most of the friend group, and also obviously it was tuberculosis not aids. Also in the opera Mimi dies but in the movie she almost dies but comes back to life after Angel told her to live.
I really loved the musical. It was really emotional and had a lot of layers that I thought came together nicely to talk about prevalent issues of the time period. I didn’t feel the emotion during the opera because I felt like we barely knew the characters but in Rent it had time to meet everyone, learn who they are and feel their pain and sadness, or at least a piece of it.
I also prefer the happy ending with Mimi living over the tragedy in La Boheme, but I guess I’m just a softie.
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