La Boheme

Well, it's better than Rent. That's about the best thing this reviewer can say about the current Broadway version of Puccini's La Boheme, which in this production is set in 1950s Paris. Director Baz Luhrmann is largely successful in achieving his mission, which is to make a great opera more accessible to the masses. He is especially canny in selecting very handsome and beautiful young actors for the leads. He also gives them some freedom in substituting American slang for parts of the libretto (although all the singing is in Italian, with subtitles). Best of all, the opera is shortened to 2 hours, 15 minutes. Of course, that means a lot of slicing and dicing has been done, but this reviewer didn't find any important parts missing. Purists may not agree.

The cast is intact: There's the tragic Mimi, beautifully sung by a young Asian woman, Wei Huang, and her valiant lover, Rodolfo (Alfred Boe). The highlight of their interaction comes in Act III, when they sing a lovely duet about their upcoming separation in spring. They are also touching in Mimi's final moments, when she finally loses her battle against tuberculosis.

In the opening scene, Rodolfo, his buddy Marcello (Ben Davis) and their bohemian friends are great fun to watch. They are rowdy, amusing playmates who can't seem to drift too far away from the cafe, their home-away-from-home. The cafe scene is dazzling, especially in the early moments when the enormous cast create a shifting kaleidoscope of light and color. This is a pure Baz Luhrmann moment, reminding one of the wizardry in his film, "Moulin Rouge." From this seemingly chaotic environment emerges Musetta (Chloe Wright), a fierce temptress. She manages to keep an aging Englishman on the string while attracting the attention of Marcello, her former lover. The set and lighting, by Catherine Martin and Nigel Levings, respectively, are spectacular. So are the costumes, especially the ones adorning the colorful Musetta.
While some creativity was used in placing the subtitles, they are still intrusive. This reviewer compares the experience to watching a tennis match, which is not altogether pleasing when one is sitting in the theater.