For opera fans, La Bohème is nothing new. So how does Opera Columbus make its upcoming performance of the classic unique?
Easy: change everything.
As one of the most performed operas worldwide, La Bohème presents companies with the challenge of making something ubiquitous exciting again. To counter this, Opera Columbus chose to retell La Bohème in a modern setting.
“Nothing will be similar,” says Peggy Kriha Dye, artistic director of Opera Columbus.
Unlike the original, which focuses on artists living in 19th-century Paris, this rendition takes place in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The storyline and music remain untouched, but the stage show takes on an entirely new aesthetic.
“I want people to be able to go to this opera (and) recognize the music as La Bohème, but be able to relate to the characters they see,” Dye says. “If you couldn’t hear it, you would think it was a play, a modern play.”
The modern take on La Bohème came from the creative team led by director Stephanie Havey.
Havey began by considering who might be a modern equivalent of the artists in La Bohème. This led her to “gutter punks,” a counter-cultural group she describes as bohemians who typically leave affluent families to become squatters in cities such as New Orleans.
“It’s the same story as the bohemians in the original setting,” Havey says. “If you read the book that the opera’s based on, you find out that all four of the friends in the opera come from very affluent families, but they’re choosing to live this life of poverty in pursuit of art and beauty and this ideal.”
Some traditional opera fans may be taken aback by the thought of changes to a classic, but Havey assures that this version aims to offer a different perspective rather than improve the original.
“I expect that there will be strong reactions in both directions, and I sort of welcome that,” she says. “One of my goals as a director is to stir conversation and stir new thoughts, and that’s what we hope to do with this production.”
Making opera relatable is a key focus for Opera Columbus, says Dye, and she expects La Bohème to appeal to both new and traditional audiences.
“This is the kind of production that makes people who come to their first opera keep coming,” she says. “This is one of those shows.”
Cameron Carr is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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