The Jacobs Opera and Ballet Theater will present Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème,” a romantic tragedy, this Saturday. The opera will have four showings split between two casts, with two performances at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 and 14, a matinee at 3 p.m. Nov. 9 and a final showing at 5 p.m. Nov. 15.
Based on the novel “Scenes de la vie de Bohème” by Henri Murger, “La Bohème” made its operatic debut in 1896. The show is set in 19th century Paris and follows the lives of young bohemian artists as they fall in love, pursue artistic fulfillment and experience loss and heartbreak.
Young creatives Rodolfo and Mimi are the show’s central romance. The story follows the nuances and complexities of their relationship as they pursue survival and creativity. Director Michael Shell said she views their story as a deeply realistic representation of young love and the exhilarations and pitfalls that often come with it.
“I think it really reflects the theme of meeting someone and falling in love, and then the reality that happens when you have to deal with the issues life throws at you,” he said. “I think these are things we’ve all dealt with.”
Throughout “La Bohème,” the characters find themselves torn between pursuing their passions and the reality of their financial situations. This central conflict is reflected in the character of Mimi, whose identity as a poor woman in the 19th century often limits her ability to control her own life.
In the second cast, Mimi is played by Changchang Hao, a second-year doctoral voice major. Hao said Mimi is able to exert some control within her life by choosing to pursue love.
“In that time period, it’s hard for her to survive that world,” she said. “She has no power or ability to refuse something like poverty, but the one thing she can decide is that she’s willing to fall in love. To fall in love is something that is her own will.”
The Jacobs Philharmonic Orchestra will provide the opera’s live music element. Daniela Candillari, principal conductor of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, will direct the pit orchestra.
Candillari said Puccini’s music often follows his own model. His scores closely accompany the opera’s text and aim to express the character’s specific inner emotions and mood through the music. “La Bohème” is no exception.
“The melodies and what the orchestra is doing and playing is always more of a description of what the character is feeling,” she said. “So we should always listen to the text, and with the other ear we should always listen to what the orchestra is actually saying is the emotional state of the character.”
A specific moment when the score intimately encapsulates a character’s internal feelings, Candillari said, is a scene in Act 3 in which Mimi and Rodolfo are in the midst of an emotional breakup. The music played during this moment features melodic callbacks to the show’s first act, when the pair were first falling in love.
“What the music is actually doing is bringing back all the moments from Act 1, when Mimi is introducing herself to Rodolfo, when they first meet,” she said. “We hear the melody that is one of the motifs that Mimi has throughout the opera. That is one of the perfect examples of the orchestra expressing Mimi’s emotional state, while what she’s actually saying on stage is a little bit different than that.”
After about two hours of following the ups and downs of the characters’ lives, audiences will find themselves faced with a tragic and possibly unsettling ending. The opera’s central tragedy occurs, and the show ends almost immediately after, without resolution. Audiences will be left to imagine what could come next.
First year doctoral voice student Patrick Conklin, who plays Rodolfo in the second cast, said the show’s ending reflects the distinctly human feeling of hopelessness that comes from experiencing a loss.
“When you lose a loved one, time doesn’t stop. That’s one of the most horrific things about being a human, being in those moments and realizing how little control you have,” Conklin said. “You realize everything keeps going around you, and it’s just such a sense of hopelessness. But life does go on, and that’s how the show ends.”
Despite the story’s upsetting conclusion, Conklin believes “La Bohème” is an opera with the power to resonate with everyone’s sense of humanity, whether they have prior opera experience or not.
“You know, opera should do a better job of reaching out to the average person,” he said, “and I think this particular show, for anyone who might not consider themselves an opera person, I think this is a show that might change their minds.”
“La Bohème” will open Saturday at the Musical Arts Center. Tickets are available at varied prices and are discounted to $12 for students.
