The English Touring Opera La Boheme at the Lyceum Theatre Review
La Boheme
English Touring Opera
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
30 March 2015
Reviewed by Jenny Seymour
Puccini’s La Boheme I think is one of the most well-known stories in opera (although if I’m honest, I know it more from the contemporary show “Rent” than the original opera). It is certainly the most well-known of the 3 operas that the English Touring Opera are taking on tour for us this season. The other two are the Siege of Calais (showing in Sheffield on 31 March) and the Wild Man of the West Indies.
This was the single performance of La Boheme in Sheffield, but don’t worry if you weren’t lucky enough to be in this sell-out auditorium, they are back in Buxton towards the end of this tour in May. It is great to see opera venturing out from London and all over the UK.
The tale of poverty, bohemia and love will have you enthralled from start to finish. The backdrop to this love story is snowy, cold besieged Paris and, although the set remains almost the same throughout each of the Acts, save for a folly into the Mumos bar in Act II, this doesn’t seem to matter. It was great how they used paint to develop the set as the scenes progressed.
The opera actually lasts for over 2½ hrs with a 20 minute interval, but neither me or my guest felt that the opera dragged at all. We were very quickly taken from the comedic look at the youthful but poor Rudolfo, Marcello and friends through to the sad demise of the beloved Mimi. What an emotional rollercoaster of an evening!
Even if you aren’t aware of the tale of Rudolfo, Marcello, Musetta and Mimi and this is your first trip to the opera, the story is made much easier to follow by the presence of a large screen with subtitles on. This was really useful, although would be perhaps better if this was situated above the stage, so that your eyes weren’t always drawn stage right. It was nice to sometimes just concentrate on the beautiful arias and ignore the translation of what was actually being sung, although it did help to ensure the comic timing of the jokes in the scenes.
We start the show with Rudolfo (a poet) and Marcello (an artist) trying to keep warm burning pages of Rudolfo’s latest drama! Just before they all leave for Café Momus, Rudolfo decides to stay behind to continue his writing, where he is interrupted by his neighbour and soon to be love of his life, Mimi – her candle that she was using to keep warm and for light has blown out. We’re then taken to Café Momus where Rudolfo introduces Mimi to his friends and we are introduced to Marcello’s former lover Musetta. She hilariously and quite provocatively tries to entice Marcello back and in the process humiliates her current wealthy lover.
Act III is a sad scene where Rudolfo has left Mimi because although she is dying of TB, he realises that she needs a more wealthy man to give her the medicine she needs to get better. Mimi overhears this and they decide to stay together until the warm sun of spring.
However, this doesn’t last – in the final act, we see Rudolfo and Marcello back at square one in spring – the girls have left them and they are still struggling for work. In one final bohemian act, the final comedic scene before the tragic finale sees Rudolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline pretending to be ladies at a ball and musketeers fighting for their ladies gave us all a much needed laugh and a break in the emotion.
What was lovely, just before the interval in Act II, there is a street scene where a group of young children also get to perform in the opera and the ETO use a local group of children in every city they tour in. The children got their first taste of opera and you could tell they got a real buzz out of this, as we saw them at the interval enjoying a much deserved ice-cream afterwards! This is part of the ETO’s outreach work that they do as well.
It’s difficult to highlight any one of the leading singers because their acting performances and singing were all outstanding. The two leading ladies perhaps gave us the highlights of the evening, with Musetta’s (Sky Ingram) risqué performance in the street trying to woo Marcello back and Mimi’s (Ilona Domnich) final aria when she is dying of tuberculosis, but I do also love the sound of an operatic tenor, so loved some of Rudolfo’s performances.
We cannot forget the orchestra as well – superb! In the final scene after the moments of Mimi’s death, we simply listen to the orchestra as all the actors wait in silence. Stunning!
If you missed the sell-out performance in Sheffield last night, do try to catch the ETO whilst they are on tour until end of May 2015.
Please note – the theatre only has an arrangement with the Q Park car park (you get 1 hour free parking) so bear this in mind when parking, as the car park next to the Crucible is quite expensive!
There was also a bit of a queue for the Q-Park when leaving as everyone parks there for the theatre.
Rating: 5/5 
For other shows at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
The English Touring Opera performance of La Boheme is currently touring until May 30. For more information on tour dates and venues visit www.englishtouringopera.org.uk/tour-dates.
Sheffield Theatres, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA | Box Office 0114 249 6000
