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| | Arts Calendar / June 20 / Opera |
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Giacomo Puccini's opera in three acts based on Henry Murger's novel Scenes de la Vie de Boheme. Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Staged by Federik Mirdita. Music Director - Peter Feranec. Designer - Marina Azizyan. La Bohème owes its appearance at the Bolshoi Theatre to its popularity with the public (the opera had had its first performance at Zimin’s Theatre in 1897 and had been in the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1900), and to the personal initiative of Leonid Sobinov, who chose it for his debut as producer at the Theatre in 1911. Sobinov commissioned a new translation of the scenario specially for the production: the excessive naturalism and coarse expressions of the existing version were not to his liking. The endless joking which helps the artists keep the cold at bay gives way to the avowals of lovers; noisy merrymaking — to angry explanations. It is difficult to think of a better constructed plot. This life, full of dreams and hopes, is just what the public, who loves to fantasize and cry at the slightest trifle, craves for and, at the end of the opera, sobbing is inevitable.
Bolshoi Theater New Stage  |
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