Theatre 2017: Review Thirty - La Boheme

La Boheme, The Royal Opera House, London. September 2017

After our wonderful outing to see Madama Butterfly in the spring Mum and I have been looking at the ROH brochure often for other things to try and so when booking opened for this we were pleased to see that another lunch time matinee had been scheduled.

This time I didn't know the music at all, and only had a vague idea of the story but like all good theatre that didn't matter and from curtain up to last bows I was captivated.

For such a tragic story there were a lot of laugh out loud moments, although mum (who knows the story) says these came from the liberties taken with the libretto. I think that they were needed to balance the story for it showed how much Mimi's tale changed the group.

This was a new staging of the show and I for one loved it, it was deceptively simple and absolutely designed with every seat in the house thought of and the street scene was incredible, it really looked like you could walk down those arcades.

As this is a winter tale snow was falling on the stage a lot of the time and I did feel cold along with the characters and when they lit the stove I swear I did warm up.

I wasn't sure that I was as swept up in the story this time as when we saw Madama Butterfly but as I was crying by the end I guess I was as involved!

Another great trip the Opera House, we recommend the seats up in the amphitheatre - great views and easy viewing of the surtitles - and we are already looking through the brochure for what to see next!