Review: La Boheme at The Regent Theatre
Review by Greg Gorton
Opera Australia’s latest production of Puccini’s La Boheme is a vibrant romantic comedy, with love a disease you cannot avoid, and cannot cure. With extravagantly delicious set design, and solid musical performances, it makes a wonderful introduction to opera for those who like musical theatre. While experienced goers will either faint over or applaud at some of the more original touches, even skeptics will find themselves laughing. While it isn’t a perfect show, and suffers from some of the common ailments much of prestige opera suffers, it adds to a mighty fine season for Opera Australia in Melbourne.
La Boheme was an adaptation of a novel about bohemian Paris in the 1840s. Rodolfo the playwright and Marcello the artist live in poverty, as do all their friends. It’s a romantic version of this existence, where a night without food is worth it for freedom of expression and love, and everything ends up okay no matter what. Enter Mimi, a young woman from down the hall, who has a job as an embroiderer, but for whom, like every good porno, has had to come to borrow….a light for her candle. Of course, Rodolfo and Mimi fall in love, and join the friends on the streets below. Throw in Marcello’s ex, Musetta, and you have a tale.
And since it is a somewhat theatrical tale about art and love, it will not end well.
There were two you will notice about Puccini’s play that make it stand out against other popular operas. First, the music is solid and simple. You may not recognise any TV-advert worthy songs, but it’s enjoyable to listen to and never gets so complex as to distract from the stage. Second, all the comedy that existed when it first appeared both exists and still gets laughs today. From the meet-cute Act I to the eulogy for a beloved jacket in Act IV, this is a delightful opera. Director Constantine Costi clearly recognises this and invites us to leave behind the stuffy expectations of not only previous operas, but previous iterations of this one in particular.
Costi’s La Boheme is set in the early twentieth century. Think electric street lighting, flappers, stove fireplaces, and scarcity of good writing paper (let alone books). When liberties are taken, they are taken to invoke otherworldliness in both design and action, and it would not be unfair to compare the show to the famous movie inspired by the opera, Moulin Rouge!.
Dann Barber’s design of the show might be its brightest star. Each Act lives on its own as a painting, a metaphor for the fragile state of the characters, and a setting not as a real world place but as a stage for the artists to live their lives on. There is puppetry, huge backdrops, and the most incredible scene transition I’ve seen in opera. With lighting designer Morgan Moroney, the deadly cold air of Paris winters is more than imagined, and the bright carnival streets are a perfectly choreographed circus rather than headache-inducing rave.
The musical performances for the night were enjoyable to the uneducated ear, and those moments interrupted by spontaneous applause were well deserving of such responses. Orchestra Victoria were perfect as always, and it was fun to see those performers from Opera Australia Children’s Chorus on stage as well.
As primarily from a theatre background, I am generally quite demanding when it comes from the acting performances, and the direction of these performers as actors. Kang Wang’s Rodolfo was instantly likeable (and would remind the plebians among us of Ted Mosby). Galina Cheplakova’s Mimi is a charming young lady that is so easy to fall in love with that it is difficult to not hate Rodolfo at times. Alexandra Floods’ Musetta exudes sexuality and strength in every action, but with an underlying sensitivity that leaves you unable to find her arrogant.
My struggle watching as a thespian was in appreciating Luke Gabbedy’s Marcello. Despite an incredible voice that owns every line of the song, I cannot help but feel that he was miscast, or at least given poor direction. I think it may be the latter. Not only does the middle-aged performer seem to be pushed to act like a young artist, but he does so in what appears to be a terrible wig. The blocking and direction of his Act III scene with Floods’ Musetta appears to be an afterthought, and no chemistry appears to ever exist between the two.
Of course I am more and more inclined to believe it was a direction issue rather than a performer. A similar issue arises for the entire main cast in Act IV, where it appeared that their role outside of the small circle around Mim was completely ignored.
Minor Trifles.
Opera Australia’s 2026 iteration of La Boheme has taken all the great lessons from modern musical theatre, poured liberal doses of genius into its design, and gone all out on the spectacle without ever forgetting the comedy and romance that already existed from the beginning. It is worth noting that there is some very minor nudity in this show (as it might have given the poor old lady in front of me a heart attack). If you have always wanted to try opera, but kept hesitating, I really think this is the one for you.
