November 8, 2015  

Puccini’s La Bohème

I saw Puccini’s La Bohème at the London Coliseum, on 23rd October. This romantic tragedy of Bohemian Paris is well known and the music is, of course, ravishing. It was, also, beautifully and precisely conducted by Xian Zhang.

The production, however, drew a pretty miserable picture of La Belle Époque Paris. The programme notes quote a contemporary as saying, “Bohemia is a sad country. It is bordered on the North by need. On the south by misery. On the east by illusion. And on the west by the infirmary”. You could believe it watching this.Corinne Winters

I suppose that makes it a great production. It certainly convinced me that late nineteenth century Paris was not my dream “Back to the Future” destination. The rich clientele at Café Momus are not appealing and the poor students seemed to me to be a little pathetic rather than tragically romantic.

So why am I even bothering to write this up? One simple reason – the performance of Corinne Winters as Mimi. The English National Opera artists are of course brilliant but the young American, from Frederick, Maryland, outshone everyone. Her power, her range, her musicality out-classed everyone.

Watch out for Corinne Winters, surely a super-star of the future.

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About Tony Belton

Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward 1972-2022, now Battersea Park Ward, London Borough of Wandsworth Ever hopeful Spurs supporter; Lane visit to the Lane, 1948 Olympics. Why don't they simply call the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Lane? Once understood IT but no longer

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